Related Links:
Game Notes (PDF)
UW-Whitewater NCAA Tournament Web Page
Free Tickets Available for UW-Whitewater Students, Fans
Live Stats
Live Audio (KOOL 106.5 FM WKCH)
Live Video (UWW-TV)
Warhawk Athletics Insider Michael Gouvion brings you an inside look into the world of UW-Whitewater's sports teams. Gouvion is a former sports editor at the Milton Courier
and a UW-Whitewater alumnus.
By winning both the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles for the first time in program history, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team accomplished a couple of its goals this season.
After Monday's NCAA Division III Tournament Selection Show, the Warhawks realized they accomplished yet another goal: hosting a first-round and potentially second-round game.
"I think it's pretty awesome that we're hosting," said senior
Brooke Trewyn (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater), who leads the team in scoring with 13 points per game. "That was definitely one of goals we had going into (Monday). To be able to host is big because we play really well at home. We're excited to see that continue hopefully."
The 11th-ranked Warhawks earned an automatic berth into the tournament by defeating rival UW-Oshkosh 68-65 in the WIAC Tournament Championship on Saturday. UW-W will host UW-Superior of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference at 7 p.m. Friday at Kachel Gymnasium.
The Yellowjackets earned an automatic bid to the tournament by winning the UMAC Tournament championship. UW-Superior went undefeated (16-0) through conference play and finished 23-4 overall.
UW-Whitewater is making its 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including its 10th in the last 11 years. The Warhawks are 24-3 and enter tournament play on a 10-game winning streak.
Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) and Rose-Hulman (Ind.) complete the four-team pod and will square off in the first round. The Gusties earned a Pool C, or at-large, berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Engineers claimed an automatic bid by winning the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title. Saturday's second round game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Kachel Gymnasium.
"We just can't be satisfied," head coach
Keri Carollo said after winning the WIAC Tournament. "I even said at the end, 'Enjoy this, but we still have work to do. We're not done yet.' It's making sure we approach the tournament with that same mentality. The tournament can be tricky as far as matchups go. Once the tournament starts, everybody's record is 0-0. You can't overlook anyone. You have to come ready to play and be well prepared."
Although the Warhawks haven't played UW-Superior for several years since its departure from the WIAC after the 2014-2015 season, they saw the Yellowjackets play in the Wartburg Tournament back in December.
In the same tournament, UW-Whitewater beat Gustavus Adolphus 68-60 and could potentially face a rematch with the Gusties in the second round if they knock off Rose-Hulman.
"We're looking forward to getting familiar with (UW-Superior) and it should be a good matchup for us," senior
Andrea Meinert (West Bend, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) said. "We finished really strong after a tough loss to UW-La Crosse in January. That was our last loss.
"We've just been working really hard together and we have great chemistry on and off the floor. You can see that by the way we play. It doesn't matter who's going to have a big night or who makes the extra pass. We all trust each other and buy into the fact that what we are able to do together is much greater than what we can do individually."
Meinert said that playing in a tough conference like the WIAC prepared the team for a long tournament run.
"It's a tough conference," Meinert said. "We have a lot of respect for the other teams in our conference. We beat each other up pretty good in conference. Plenty of teams can pull upsets on any given night, so we're very thankful to represent our conference in the tournament."
Trewyn said the key to keeping the momentum going is staying humble and level-headed.
"I think we're playing really well right now," Trewyn said. "It's awesome that we have so many different (types of players) on our team. We have a little bit of everything. We're all contributing in different ways. Last game, we had four or five people in double digits. It's kind of hard to stop when we have those scorers show up every night.
Both Trewyn and Meinert said it would mean everything if the Warhawks can make a deep run into the tournament and bring home a title.
"That is the ultimate goal for every program," Meinert said. "When there are 450 teams in Division III, obviously not everyone gets their opportunity. To be the last of the last would be pretty much a dream come true. We're just happy to have a good draw and to get things started at home and take it one game at a time. Hopefully we can keep getting better as the tournament progresses."
For Trewyn, who grew up in Whitewater and graduated from Whitewater High School, a national championship would be the icing on the cake.
"(To win a national championship) was the exact reason I picked UW-Whitewater," Trewyn said. "To be able to go out with (a championship) with Malia (Smith) and Andrea (Meinert) in our senior year would be awesome because we've gone through everything together. To have a successful senior year so far is awesome and especially from how we started being .500 as freshmen.
"It's kind of surreal to see it all happen and we're just hoping that we can push our way through the tournament and get to the Final Four."
