The UW Oshkosh women’s basketball team will take on Smith College (Massachusetts) in Brunswick, Maine on March 8 for the third round of the NCAA tournament, also known as the Sweet Sixteen.
Smith currently sits with a 27-3 record heading into their matchup versus UWO. Smith entered the tournament ranked 14th in the country and defeated Maine Maritime Academy 61-46 in their first round matchup followed by a 69-61 victory over Messiah University (Pennsylvania) in the second round. Both games took place at Smith’s home court in Northampton, Mass.
Senior guard Ally Yamanda leads the offense for Smith. Yamanda averages 14.9 points per game on the season, scoring 15 and 17 points in her two tournament games so far. Yamanda is a threat from behind the arc as she made seven three-pointers so far throughout the tournament.
Senior guard Jessie Ruffner leads in many metrics for Smith. Ruffner averages 13.7 points per game and leads the team in field goal percentage (60.6%), assists per game (4.6) and rebounds per game (9.2). Following a quiet game against Maine Maritime with only eight points, Ruffner would put up 29 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists during their second round matchup against Messiah. Ruffner’s scoring comes inside primarily as she has only attempted one three-pointer in her past 12 games.
Graduate forward Sofia Rosa averages 13.7 points per game for Smith this season while also averaging 7.1 rebounds per game. Rosa is listed at 6’2”, which makes her the tallest player between the two teams. Rosa has scored 10 and 11 points in her two tournament games so far.
The winner of the matchup between UWO and Smith will take on the winner of Bowdoin College (Maine) and Baldwin-Wallace University (Ohio) on March 9.
Bowdoin gets the right to be host of the sectional after their 25-2 regular season and winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference conference tournament, making them the number eight team in the country according to d3hoops.com. Bowdoin also hosted their first and second round matchups on their home court, defeating Western New England University (Massachusetts) 69-48 and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth 67-59.
Junior guard Sydney Jones is the leading scorer for Bowdoin, averaging 16.7 points per game. Jones has scored over 25 points in a game on four separate occasions this season. However, Jones has not met her scoring average in the past three games, scoring 15, 15 and 12 in those contests. Jones leads the team in rebounds, averaging 7.1 per game and having 10+ rebounds in five of her past seven games.
Sophomore point guard Carly Davey is the only other Bowdoin player averaging double figures with 10.1 points per game. After leading the team with 21 points in their first round matchup against Western New England, Davey scored seven points in their second round game against UMass Dartmouth.
Facing Bowdoin is Baldwin-Wallace, the only unranked team that will play this weekend in Brunswick. Baldwin-Wallace went 20-6 in the regular season with a 16-2 regular season record winning the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title. Baldwin-Wallace would lose in the OAC semi-finals against Ohio Northern University 57-43.
Baldwin-Wallace would rebound from their conference tournament loss with a close 59-54 victory over Trinity College (Connecticut) in the first round. Baldwin-Wallace would then face the hosts of their pod, New Paltz University (New York), and pull off a 65-42 upset.
Junior forward Bella Vaillant is the only Baldwin-Wallace player to average over 10 points per game with an average of 10.2. In the first round game against Trinity, Vaillant put up 11 points and 10 rebounds. Vaillant’s second round game against New Paltz resulted in her scoring seven points with 11 rebounds.
Junior wing Caely Ressler averaged 9.6 points per game this season for Baldwin-Wallace but has been the team’s top scorer for the tournament so far. Ressler put up 14 points and 9 rebounds in the victory over Trinity. Ressler would follow that performance with a 20 point outing against New Paltz where she would go 4-for-5 from three.
UWO versus Smith will start the action in Brunswick with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m. Baldwin-Wallace versus Bowdoin will tip-off after the conclusion of the first game, expected to be around 7:30 p.m. The winner of this sectional will head to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the Final Four.
