When the UW-Oshkosh women’s basketball team hosts its first Sectional Round of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament since 1994 this weekend (March 14-15), the Titans will be welcoming some of the most accomplished teams in the country to the Kolf Sports Center.
UWO will play in the second game of the Sweet 16 on Friday at 8 p.m. as the Titans will play Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri).
The opener of the Oshkosh sectional will take place at 5:30 p.m. as Hope College (Michigan) will play the University of Chicago (Illinois).
The winners of Friday’s games will compete in the Elite Eight round on Saturday at 8 p.m. for a chance to go to the Final Four in Salem, Virginia.
The host, UWO will not only be coming into this sectional round in their third straight sectional appearance, but will be hoping to make its second straight Final Four. Despite falling in the WIAC Tournament championship, UWO is the WIAC regular season champions for the third straight season. The first team to accomplish that feat since UW-Green Bay in the conference’s Division-II segment from 1980-1982.
Paige Seckar, the WIAC player of the year, leads the Titans with 13.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. The sophomore forward led the team with 21 points and 13 rebounds in the Titans regional clinching win over Wisconsin Lutheran College.
Four Titans earned All-WIAC recognition this season. Junior guard Sammi Beyer and senior forward Sarah Hardwick earned first team All-WIAC recognition. Senior guard Avery Poole was an honorable mention selection. Beyer was a WIAC Player of the Year finalist while Hardwick and Poole were representatives on the WIAC All-Defensive team.
WashU secured its spot in the Sweet 16 with a 65-53 victory over SUNY Genesio (New York) and 73-68 over regional host Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware, Ohio.
The Bears finished second in the University Athletic Association standings, four games behind two-time reigning national champion and undefeated New York University. WashU got the eighth at-large bid into the 64-team NCAA tournament field.
WashU is led by the duo of junior center Lexy Harris and junior guard Sidney Rogers.
Harris, ranked fourth in the country with a .606 field goal percentage, averages 18.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
Rogers on the season is averaging 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and a team-best 3.6 assists per game.
Hope punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 by winning its regional with wins of 103-65 over Pennsylvania State University-Behrend and 90-85 in overtime against Illinois Wesleyan University in the second round.
Hope earned a berth in the NCAA tournament by winning the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s tournament championship.
Fighting Dutch sophomore guards, Anna Richards and Maddie Petroelke were tabbed with All-MIAA First Team honors.
Richards leads Hope with 12.3 points, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game. She has a 45.3 shooting percentage from 3-point range and has 5.7 rebounds per game.
Petroelje is one of the leading 3-point shooters in the nation, shooting 66-for-140 from beyond the arc to rank second with a .471 percentage. Petroelje averages 11.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.
The final team in the sectional is UChicago, the Maroons are back in the Sweet 16 round for the fifth time in program history after winning the Whitewater Regional by beating Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota), 60-44 and UW-Whitewater 62-46.
The Maroons are also from the UAA conference with WashU and finished third in the conference behind WashU and NYU.
The Trio of All-UAA first teamers in sophomore forward Annabelle Spotts, sophomore guard Chris Sanders and UAA honorable mention, senior guard Kate Gross headline the Maroons.
Spotts leads the way for the Maroons with 11.3 points per game while Sanders has 10.7 points per game and Gross is fifth on the team with 6.6 points along with a team-high 2.2 assists. Sanders has hit a team high 37 three pointers.
The Titans faced the Maroons earlier this season on Nov. 8. UWO escaped UChicago with a 60-58 in overtime.
