The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater secured their spot in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second straight season with a 68-63 win over Gustavus Adolphus College in Kachel Gymnasium Saturday night. The Warhawks will face Trinity College (Conn.) in the Round of 16 next week at a location yet to be announced.
UW-Whitewater will make their sixth NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in school history (2022, 2014, 2013, 2008, 1986). Of the previous five trips, the Warhawks went on to finish among the top three four times.
The Warhawks won the first half and built a cushion as the Gusties started to mount a comeback in the second half.
Back-to-back triples from
Yssa Sto. Domingo (Streamwood, Ill./St. Edward) in the first quarter claimed the lead for UWW and set the tone.
Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) followed adding her first tally in the three-pointer column and then
Abby Belschner (Grafton, Wis./Cedarburg) capped the 11-0 UWW run dropping one in from down low to make it 13-6 with 3:55 on the clock. Trautsch knocked down her second triple to close out the scoring in the first quarter as the Warhawks built an 18-11 lead after ten minutes of action.
The Gusties battled back eventually knotting the game at 18 with just under seven minutes to go before the intermission. The Warhawks closed the half on a 15-3 run to take a 33-21 lead into the break.
UW-Whitewater's double digit advantage held for the majority of the third quarter, but GAC made it interesting late. Despite facing a 17-point deficit, 60-43, with just over four minutes to play, the Gusties continued to battle. Back-to-back Gustavus three's cut the margin to 11. Later on, with 1:28 remaining, a driving layup with the and-one brought the deficit into single digits.
A jumper negated a pair of
Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) free throws and then the Gusties knocked down another from long range. Just like that, the Warhawk lead was down to six, 64-58, with 46 seconds remaining. Sto. Domingo was fouled on the next possession hitting one of two but GAC was hot from downtown draining a triple to pull within four, 65-61. GAC called for timeout with 36 seconds on the clock.
Sending Carollo to the line with barely any time coming off the clock, the sophomore hit the second of the two-shot bonus. The Gusties pushed the pace, launching a three that was no good but an offensive board was put back in to make it 66-63 with 21 seconds to go.
UW-Whitewater called timeout to advance the ball into their offensive zone. The ball was safely inbounded to Carollo who split the pair from the line, but she hauled in the defensive rebound following an errant three-pointer with seven seconds left. Fouled immediately, Carollo hit the first free throw to push the lead to five, 68-63. The Gusties were able to get one more shot off as the buzzer sounded but it was no good for the final.
Carollo registered a career-high 29 points, her third consecutive game with more than 20 in the scoring column. She added 12 rebounds for the double-double. Trautsch also notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Belschner was a rebound away from a double-double of her own with 12 points. With six blocks in the last two games, Belschner is just three away from moving into third in the UWW career record book. Her career total grew to 125 with a pair Saturday.
With the Warhawk men also advancing to the Round of 16, UW-Whitewater is one of two schools represented by both their men's and women's basketball teams in the Sweet 16 -- Christopher Newport is the lone other. This is the second time in UWW history both Warhawk squads have advanced to the quarterfinals - the other was in 2014 when the Warhawk men captured the national title and the women finished third in the country.
