Teammates for two years under legendary Scranton women's basketball coach Mike Strong, Kate Pearson and Kelly Lewandowski lead Cabrini and Salisbury programs which are trying to break into Division III's upper echelons.

It’s been tough, lately, to break into the upper echelon of D-III women’s basketball lately. Still there are a few up and coming teams across the Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic regions ready to break through. For example, Salisbury is 10-0 in the CAC and 16-1 overall, with their only loss coming to a then-undefeated and currently ninth ranked Montclair State. Cabrini is coming off back to back NCAA appearances, sitting on a perfect CSAC record and having won 15 of its last 16 games.

You won’t see these rising programs on each other’s schedule in the near future, though. Coaches Kate Pearson of Cabrini and Salisbury’s Kelly Lewandowski played together at Scranton for two years, remain close friends and aren’t entirely ready to test that friendship on the hardwood. “I know Kelly wants to play, but I just think I’d take it too personally,” Pearson said. “I won’t schedule [former Cabrini head coach and Pearson mentor, now at Haverford] Bobbi Morgan either.”

One team Pearson doesn’t mind playing? Her alma mater. The Cavaliers have topped the Royals in two consecutive seasons, with this year’s victory coming in the midst of a difficult three-game stretch, featuring wins over Richard Stockton and Scranton on consecutive nights, then a thrilling one point loss to Thomas More and defending D3hoops.com Player of the Year, Sydney Moss.

“We had that game won and just made a couple mistakes down the stretch,” says Pearson. “It was a very difficult loss. You never want to lose like that. We don’t like moral victories much around here.”

Still, success on the floor has helped to bring confidence to a team that struggled early to find its identity, having lost four seniors from last year’s squad and the first two games of the 2014-15 campaign.

“We knew we were going to have to ride Amber [Keys],” Pearson said. “She’s a real force inside other teams have trouble with.” Keys, a senior forward and 1,000-point scorer is averaging a double-double this season and providing some cover for her teammates to grow into their roles.

“We put a real emphasis on defense,” says Pearson, which shows up on the score line. Cabrini has only allowed a team to reach 60 points three times all season, five times holding opponents below 40.

On the other end of the spectrum is Lewandowski’s Salisbury squad. “I was a defensive player,” says the coach, “I’d prefer to be focusing on defense, but my players are aggressive, attacking players.” The Sea Gulls have tailored their offense to match those strengths.

Salisbury is led by the senior backcourt of Anna Hackett and Sarah Seipp. “Anna is really a coach on the floor. She’s a scorer, but in a really unassuming way,” says Lewandowski of her point guard. “We have six seniors, who are really the heartbeat of this team, leading the underclassmen and it’s making all the difference this year.”

Lewandowski, in her fourth year, is preparing to say goodbye to her first class of players, many of whom have played significant roles on the court all four years. In building a culture of success, Lewandowski leaned heavily on her former teammate, Pearson, who, while taking over a winning program at Cabrini, had to deal with the loss of eight seniors before her first year as head coach.

“I’m so impressed with Kelly. She’s done a great job of rebuilding the program there [at Salisbury],” says Pearson. “We’re like best friends,” says Lewandowski, “We talk every day or every other day. When I was struggling it was nice to have someone there for encouragement and advice.”

The friendship began at Scranton, where Pearson (nèe Pierangeli) was a three-time All-Region selection, and two years ahead of Lewandowski. Playing for Division III’s all-time winningest women’s coach, Mike Strong, is not a bad way to start a career, but both coaches speak strongly of the overall university atmosphere beyond just their time on the court.

“My time at Scranton is why I do what I do,” says Lewandowski, “I had a wonderful experience there and I want to provide the same experience here at Salisbury.” Says Pearson, “Coach Strong established a program and expected a lot from us, but we always knew he was there for us if we needed anything.”

A friendship forged in college and grown over the phone and on the recruiting trail may not be tested during the regular season; however, if the women of Salisbury and Cabrini continue their impressive runs this year, we might just see Pearson and Lewandowski face off in the postseason. If that happens, say both coaches, “We’ll be ready.”

Congested Centennial

That No. 7 Dickinson beat No. 14 Franklin & Marshall this week is not surprising, that the final score was 81-48 certainly caused a few double-takes. The Red Devils held the Diplomats to 27% shooting, while forcing 14 turnovers. It was the second of three conference victories by 25 or more points for Dickinson this week and just the second loss for Franklin and Marshall on the season. Both teams find themselves looking up at No. 24 Johns Hopkins, whose 9-1 conference record leads the Centennial. This is the first time in conference history the CC has placed three teams in the D3hoops.com national poll at the same time. All three teams are 15-2 overall.

Baruch women flying under the radar

The Baruch women are undefeated in CUNYAC play, which might not be too surprising given their recent dominance (they’ve lost zero or one conference game six of the past eight years) and their 13-4 overall record might not raise many eyebrows, however, three of those four losses were against top ten programs.

They gave Amherst the toughest home test since last year’s NESCAC championship, then followed it up two days later with a hard-fought loss to No. 1 FDU-Florham. They also traveled to Montclair State at the end of December. The Bearcats have wins over Illinois Wesleyan and Richard Stockton this season and every team who beat them was undefeated at the time.

Riding a nine-game winning streak into the second half of conference play, Baruch will certainly be battled tested come tournament time.

Dead-eye DeSales

Cody Deal led all scorers with 37, as DeSales won at Wilkes 82-71 on Wednesday. The Bulldogs hit 56% of their shots from the floor, 56% from deep, and a whopping 100% (16 of 16) from the free throw line. DeSales is 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the Freedom Conference.

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If you have any feedback or story ideas (especially approaching milestones, which are sometimes hard to discover), please pass them along at ryan.scott@d3sports.com or @ryanalanscott on Twitter.