GAME 6 and 7
No. 1 Transylvania (5-0, 1-0 HCAC) at Franklin (4-1, 1-0 HCAC)
Wednesday, December 6th, 2023 | 7:00 PM | Franklin, Ind. (Spurlock Center)
Audio: none | Watch | Live Stats
at Manchester (3-3, 0-1 HCAC)
Saturday, December 9th, 2023 | 1:00 PM | North Manchester, Ind. (Stauffer-Wolfe Arena)
Audio: none | Watch | Live Stats
THE LONGEST WIN STREAK IN NCAA DIII
The Pioneers have started the season 5-0 for the third consecutive season to extend the longest winning streak in NCAA DIII to 38 games. Transy defeated Depauw to open the season, then won the Pat Deacon Classic with wins over Maryville (Ten.) and Wisconsin Lutheran. The Pioneers dominated in their wins over Wittenberg and Defiance last week, holding both teams to under 15 points in the first half.
PAT DEACON CLASSIC CHAMPS
Transylvania Women's Basketball won the Pat Deacon Classic last weekend after beating Maryville College (72-42), and Wisconsin Lutheran College (54-48). The Pat Deacon Classic saw a dominating first game from the Pioneers as Kennedi Stacy would have 23 points in 19 minutes after going 6-9 on three point shots against Maryville. In the second game against Wisconsin Lutheran, the Pioneers found themselves trailing 10-15 after the first quarter, then led a strong comeback thanks to the efforts of Dasia Thornton with a 25 point and 13 rebound game. Thornton would earn Pat Deacon Classic MVP while Stacy would earn Pat Deacon Classic All-Tournament Team Honors.
GAME 1 FULL RECAP | BOX SCORE GAME 2 FULL RECAP | BOX SCORE
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Winners of five straight to begin the 2023-24 season, Transy's win streak is at 38. The Classic had the Pioneers in plenty of challenging positions as the first game saw a blow out followed by a tightly contested second game. Dasia Thornton led the Pioneers in scoring over the weekend with a combined 40 points 18 rebounds and 5 blocks earning tournament MVP. Kennedi Stacy was named to the All Tournament Team after stretching the floor with a combined 7-13 from the three point line on the weekend, ending with 34 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists.
The Pioneers played 17 different players over the weekend as the bench would make up 21 points. With fresh legs, the Pioneers were able to turn up the pressure to cause turnovers as the Pioneers would finish with 48 points off turnovers and 23 of those turnovers turning into fast break points.
Transy was voted first in the HCAC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll, earning all 9 possible first place votes.
Transy dominated their last two opponents, defeating Wittenberg 69-46 and Defiance 93-28.
Dasia Thornton leads the Pioneers with 16.4 ppg . Kennedi Stacy is second on the team averaging 14.2 ppg.
MS. 1000
Transylvania fifth year forward Dasia Thornton achieved a career milestone this past week. In the 65 point win over Defiance, Dasia earned her 1,000th career point with her 12th point of the game. She sank a free throw to achieve the accolade. Just a few days prior, she grabbed her 750th career rebound in the win over Wittenberg.
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Franklin is off to a 4-1 start and is 1-0 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference after defeating Anderson 92-87 on Saturday. The Grizzlies have two players averaging double figures, with Jordan Coon leading the team with 11.8 ppg.
The Grizzlies are first in the HCAC in points per game with 82.2
Manchester is 3-3 overall and dropped their Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opener to Mount St. Joseph 43-63 in Cincinnati on Saturday.
Hailee Kline leads the Spartans in scoring, averaging 10.8 ppg. Manchester ranks 7th in scoring in the HCAC.
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference statistics
THE SERIES
Transylvania leads the all time series against Franklin 27-9, having won the last 14 matchups. SERIES HISTORY
Transylvania leads the all time series against Manchester 14-1, having won the last 11 matchups. SERIES HISTORY
LEADING THE NATIONALLY RANKED PIONEERS
Juli Fulks enters her tenth season for the 2023-24 season and has created a dynasty as one of the NCAA DIII's best. Fulks has dominated competition since becoming the head coach of Transylvania, winning 211 games in her previous nine seasons. Fulks' teams has won the HCAC regular season championship five times, and the HCAC tournament championship five seasons in a row.
In her first season, Transy earned an at large bid to the NCAA DIII tournament and became the first undefeated team in HCAC regular season history (18-0). They finished the season ranked 13th nationally, the highest in program history to that point.
The Pioneers won their first NCAA tournament game under Fulks in the 2018-2019 season when they defeated Piedmont 77-67.
In the 2021-2022 season, Fulks' squad finished the regular season perfect at 16-0, and then won the HCAC Tournament against Anderson 81-51. The Pioneers hosted the NCAA Regional for the first time ever and reached the elite eight for the first time in program history before losing to Trine University 47-54 to end the season 22-1, a then program best.
Fulks led Transy to a perfect 33-0 last season, winning the first national championship in school history.
Awards the Pioneers accrued throughout the 2022-23 season is as follows:
-Madison Kellione - NCAA Elite 90 Award Winner, NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament MVP, Women's Basketball Coaches Association First Team All-American, D3Hoops Second Team All-American, Women's Basketball Coaches Association Region 8 First Team, Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference First Team & Co-Player of the Year, Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year from a Female Sport.
-Kennedi Stacy - NCAA DIII Women's Basketball All-Tournament Team, Women's Basketball Coaches Association Region 8 Third Team, Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference First Team & Defensive Player of the Year.
-Daisa Thornton - NCAA DIII Women's Basketball All-Tournament Team, Women's Basketball Coaches Association Region 8 Third Team, Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference First Team.
-Laken Ball - Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Second & Sportsmanship Team.
-Coach Juli Fulks - Women's Basketball Coaches Association Region 8 Coach of the Year, D3Hoops Co-DIII Coach of the Year, Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
-Tom Bolson Academic Team Award: Madison Kellione, McLain Murphy, Emilie Teall.
-RAFY Coaching Staff of the Year.
Juli Fulks' all time record sits at 374-142.
HCAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Dasia Thornton was named HCAC Player of the Week on December 4th, 2023 for her performances in the wins over Wittenberg and Defiance. She averaged 13.5 points and 7 rebounds while earning her 750th rebound and 1000th point. RELEASE
TRANSY STATS 'N STREAKS
- Transy has the longest winning streak in NCAA DIII at 38 games, and the second longest in all off NCAA (DII Ashland has won 44 straight)
- Transy has outscored opponents 69.6 to 42.8 points per game to start the season.
- Transy has started 5-0 for the 3rd consecutive season
- Transy has won 20 or more games 8 different times in the last 10 seasons
- Transy has held opponents to 17.2 points in the first half this season
UP NEXT
Transy continues their road trip with games vs Bluffton on December 18th and Spalding on December 20th.
NCAA DIII TOP 25 (WBCA)
|
Rank
|
School (Record)
|
Total
Points
|
First-Place
Votes
|
Last-Week's
Rank
|
|
1
|
Transylvania (5-0)
|
243
|
4
|
1
|
|
2
|
NYU (7-0)
|
241
|
4
|
2
|
|
3
|
Christopher Newport (8-0)
|
236
|
2
|
3
|
|
4
|
Scranton (7-0)
|
214
|
0
|
4
|
|
5
|
Rhode Island College (7-0)
|
212
|
0
|
5
|
|
6
|
UW-Whitewater (8-0)
|
203
|
0
|
7
|
|
7
|
Trinity, TX (6-1)
|
172
|
0
|
8
|
|
8
|
Wartburg (7-0)
|
163
|
0
|
12
|
|
9
|
Smith (5-1)
|
158
|
0
|
10
|
|
10
|
Millikin (7-0)
|
150
|
0
|
13
|
|
11
|
Chicago (7-1)
|
143
|
0
|
11
|
|
12
|
Gustavus Adolphus (4-0)
|
135
|
0
|
15
|
|
13
|
Trine (5-1)
|
116
|
0
|
14
|
|
14
|
Hardin-Simmons (5-1)
|
112
|
0
|
6
|
|
15
|
Hope (6-1)
|
108
|
0
|
17
|
|
16
|
Trinity, CT (5-2)
|
86
|
0
|
15
|
|
17
|
Tufts (5-2)
|
74
|
0
|
9
|
|
18
|
Washington and Lee (7-1)
|
68
|
0
|
21
|
|
19
|
Mary Washington (7-1)
|
61
|
0
|
22
|
|
20t
|
Emory (7-1)
|
52
|
0
|
RV
|
|
20t
|
Whitman (5-1)
|
52
|
0
|
18
|
|
22
|
Loras (4-2)
|
47
|
0
|
20
|
|
23
|
Marietta, OH (4-1)
|
39
|
0
|
22
|
|
24
|
Catholic (7-0)
|
37
|
0
|
RV
|
|
25
|
Amherst (6-0)
|
30
|
0
|
RV
|
Dropped out: No. 19 Baldwin-Wallace (4-2); No. 22 Elizabethtown (5-2); No. 25 DeSales (6-1).
Others receiving votes: DeSales (6-1) 26; Illinois Wesleyan (7-2) 22; Baldwin-Wallace (4-2) 15; SUNY New Paltz (5-1) 9; Elizabethtown (5-2) 7; Mary Hardin-Baylor (5-1) 5; Ohio Northern (2-3) 4; UW-Stout (6-1) 4; Wittenberg (3-2) 3; Wheaton, IL (6-1) 2; Skidmore (6-2) 1.
The WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll Committee is composed of one head coach from each of the 10 NCAA Division III regions. The committee for the 2023-24 season: Samantha Crough, Regis (MA); Drew Gaeng, Hendrix; Karin Harvey, Montclair State; Melissa Kolbe, Wittenberg; Casey Kushiyama, Puget Sound; Jen McCormick, Illinois College; Bobbi Morgan, Ursinus; Mia Smith, Illinois Wesleyan; Daphne Thompson, SUNY Oneonta; Kelly Thompson, Roger Williams.
2023-24 HCAC Women's Basketball Standings
2023-24 HCAC Players to Watch:
Transylvania
Returning 2022-23 All-Conference Basketball Athletes to Watch in 2023-24:
To keep up with the defending national champions, follow Transy Women's Basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@TUWBX)
