UW-Whitewater defeated Manchester College in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament 77-60 at Bloomington, Ill. Junior Tiffany Morton, from Beloit, Wis., led the team with a double-double by scoring 20 points and picking up 11 rebounds. UW-Whitewater championship website.
Box Score
Also doing well for the Warhawks were senior Lindsey Buechner, from Cross Plains, Wis., and sophomores Kelsey Hendrickson, from Monroe, Wis., and Heidi Sonntag, from Milwaukee, Wis. Hendrickson had 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Buechner had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Sonntag also scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers.
On the Manchester side, Sarah Bose led the team with 15 points and three steals. Sarah Conwell, Kailey Honn and Kristen Lancaster led the team with five rebounds a piece.
The Warhawks built an early 12-0 lead in the first half after two three-pointers by Hendrickson and Sonntag. Manchester battled their way back cutting the lead to 15-10 after Kristen Lancaster and Kailey Honn hit jump shots. UW-Whitewater rebuilt a 10 point lead with less than four minutes to go in the half on the strength of Morton in the paint and Sonntag from the three-point line. Manchester battled their way back to within four at the end of the half.
UW-Whitewater started the half with a 15-5 run behind the shooting of Buechner, Hendrickson, Morton and Sonntag. After the 12:00 mark, Manchester trailed by double digits for the rest of the game. UW-Whitewater built a 17 point lead, 74-57 at 1:14 on the strength of seven straight points by Morton.
UW-Whitewater shot .491 from the field compared to Manchester's .389. They both took the same amount of field goal attempts. From beyond the arc, the Warhawks shot 7 for 17 compared to Manchester's 3 for 12 shooting.
UW-Whitewater will face Illinois Wesleyan in the regional semi-final at 7 p.m. on March 8 at the Shirk Center at Illinois Wesleyan University, the host of the regional.
For additional information: UW-Whitewater head coach Keri Carollo
