UW-Whitewater's 2008-2009 season came to an end Saturday night in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship tournament with a 67-59 loss to host The College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota.

box score
Whitewater NCAA Tournament page

Whitewater led 14-5 five minutes into the game but by 11:14 Saint Ben's had regained the lead, 16-14.  By the 1:26 mark CSB had increased its margin to 39-28, and the Blazers went in to the locker-room with a 39-32 advantage.

With four different players scoring Whitewater's first nine points of the second half, UW-W tied the game at 41-41 with 15:17 left.  Still tied, 50-50 at 9:01, CSB managed to maintain a lead, between three and five points for the next six minutes. 

Leading 61-56 with 3:34 left, Saint Benedict did not score another basket in the game.  The Blazers did, however, make 6-6 free throws during that span to close out the game.

The Blazers ruled the glass, grabbing 41 rebounds to 25 for the Warhawks.  CSB also hit seven three's to three for UW-W.

Senior center Tiffany Morton (Beloit/Memorial) led UW-W with 16 points and seven rebounds while battling foul trouble.  Junior guard Kelsey Hendrickson (Monroe/Monroe) contributed 13 points and junior Heidi Sonntag (Milwaukee/Wisconsin Lutheran) 11 points, including 3-4 from the line.  Meghan Schmidt (Port Washington/Port Washington) tied for game high honors with four assists.  CSB was led by Ariel Tauer's 22 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists.  Amy Stifter and Laura Canton added 15 and 11 points, respectively.

UW-W ends the season 23-4, the fourth highest victory total in school history.  Schmidt, a part of UW-W women's basketball resurgence, played in 105 games, ninth in the record book.  Tiffany Morton (Beloit/Memorial) ended her Warhawk career with 1215 points, third,with 689 rebounds, fourth.  Hendrickson moved up to seventh in career steals, at 137.  Morton tallied 461 points this season, fourth in the record book, and she broke the school record in for season rebounds in her last game, winding up with 302 (Vanessa Rieder grabbed 295 in 1999-2000).

For additional information:  Keri Carollo, UW-W coach