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D-III Midwest Musings: Wheaton, Chicago survive early tests

By Caissa Casarez

ROCHESTER, MN - MARCH 17: The Amherst College Mammoths take on the Bowdoin Polar Bears during the Division III Women's Basketball Championship held at the Mayo Civic Center on March 17, 2018 in Rochester, Minnesota. Amherst defeated Bowdoin 65-45 to win the national championship. (Photo by Carlos Gonzalez/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
ROCHESTER, MN - MARCH 17: The Amherst College Mammoths take on the Bowdoin Polar Bears during the Division III Women's Basketball Championship held at the Mayo Civic Center on March 17, 2018 in Rochester, Minnesota. Amherst defeated Bowdoin 65-45 to win the national championship. (Photo by Carlos Gonzalez/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) /
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Welcome to Midwest Musings, a weekly column recapping the action from the NCAA Division III teams in the Midwest. Questions? Suggestions? Send Caissa Casarez a tweet at @cassafrassen!

The first few weeks of the college basketball regular season usually allow for players and teams to get acquainted with each other before conference play begins. With NCAA Division III teams, this usually comes in the form of playing exhibition games against higher division squads before beginning their non-conference slate. There might be a close match here and there, but there’s usually no real contest in the early weeks.

Despite this, two teams – both in the Chicago area – did have early tests in this opening week of basketball. And both teams survived them.

Team(s) of the Week: Wheaton College and University of Chicago

The seventh-ranked University of Texas-Dallas women’s basketball team opened its campaign with a trip north, where it faced the No. 14 Wheaton College Thunder and the 18th-ranked University of Chicago Maroons. The Comets returned home with two losses, as the teams from the Midwest prevailed in two separate but still meaningful wins.

The first game – a contest between UTD and Wheaton on November 9 – was especially rare for a season-opener; as D3Hoops.com points out, it featured three preseason All-Americans. One of those was Wheaton forward Hannah Frazier, who led the Thunder with 26 points and seven rebounds en route to the come-from-behind victory. UT-Dallas actually outscored Wheaton in the final quarter (28-17), as honorable mention All-American Raenett Hughes scored 15 points in the fourth for the Comets. But Wheaton had an answer for UTD’s 7-1 run late in the game, led by Frazier’s seven points and two blocked shots in the final frame. Senior center Jill Berg also added three rebounds for Wheaton (1-0, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) in the fourth quarter. The Thunder were chosen to win the CCIW title this year after winning their fourth championship in the last five years in 2018-19.

A day later, the Comets traveled an hour east to take on the Maroons from the University of Chicago. It was a close contest the whole way, with the Maroons leading by just seven at the half. While UT-Dallas cut the lead to just two points in the final minute of the game, Chicago (1-0, 0-0 University Athletic Association) made seven of its eight final free throw attempts to put the game away for good. In all, the home team finished 31-of-42 from the free throw line. The Maroons had five players score in double figures in the contest, including senior Miranda Burt with 16 points and first-year player Grace Hynes with 14 off the bench. Before the season began, Chicago head coach Carissa Sain said the leadership of the seniors combined with the newer players will help the squad as they look to reach the NCAA Tournament back in March. Games like this should surely help with that. The Maroons were picked to win the UAA title in the preseason poll.

Cass’s Starting Five

G Macy Hatlestad, Jr., St. Thomas (Minn.): Hatlestad’s three-pointer in the final seconds led the new-look No. 9 Tommies (2-0, 0-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association) to a win over Trinity (Tex.) on Sunday, November 10th. She finished with a team-high 20 points in the victory.

G Alexis Hoskins, Sr., Dominican (Ill.): Hoskins finished with a double-double in Dominican’s season-opening win over Kalamazoo on Monday, November 11th. She scored 12 points and added 13 rebounds for the Stars (1-0, 0-0 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference), who finished the game with a 19-3 fourth quarter to get the win.

G/F Olivia Campbell, Sr., Wis-Oshkosh: Campbell came up big on both sides of the ball in the No. 17 Titans’ victory over Saint Mary’s (Minn.) to open their season on Monday, November 11th. She tied her career marks with 15 points and eight rebounds while also adding three assists for Wis.-Oshkosh (1-0, 0-0 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference).

P Alex Johnson, Sr., Saint Benedict (Minn.): Johnson started her senior season with a new career mark in scoring Monday night, when she scored 22 points in the Bennies’ 85-51 win over Wis.-River Falls. Johnson helped Saint Benedict (1-0, 0-0 MIAC) get out to a 24-point lead in the second quarter after the Bennies allowed just five points from the Falcons (1-1, 0-0 WIAC) in the first frame. She also added 10 rebounds in the win.

G Sydney Muller, Jr., Hope College (Mich.): Muller led the Flying Dutch to the Augustana (Ill.) College tournament title over the weekend, scoring 17 points in Hope’s win over Luther (Iowa) Friday and 13 in their victory over Benedictine (Ill.) Saturday. She received the tournament MVP honor for her efforts and was named the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association women’s basketball Player of the Week as well. The Flying Dutch, ranked 6th to start the season by D3Hoops.com, were picked to win the MIAA this year.

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