After winning the MIAC championship Saturday, the No. 2-ranked St. Thomas women’s basketball team received an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III tournament and will host Minnesota-Morris in the first round of the tournament at Schoenecker Arena on March 6.
After going unbeaten in the regular season, St. Thomas was named the host for the first two rounds of its region of the NCAA tournament, an honor that guard Jenna Dockter and the rest of the team are looking forward to.
“We’re really excited!” Dockter said. “It’s nice to have home court advantage and be able to sleep in our own beds, go to class, and be able to stick to that same schedule, so we don’t get too psyched out or anything. We definitely are excited to play in front of our fans and our home crowd.”
Minnesota-Morris earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after defeating Northwestern-St. Paul 63-54 in overtime in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championship game Saturday.
“Morris is a very aggressive and physical team,” coach Ruth Sinn said. “Obviously they’ve done very well in their conference, and they’re going to be coming in with their own idea of how they’re going to control us. So we’ve got our hands full, but we’re up for the challenge.”
Despite going 12-2 in conference play, the Cougars were just 16-11 overall this year with four losses in four games against MIAC competition. Minnesota-Morris lost games against Concordia, St. Ben’s and St. Mary’s by single digits and lost to Gustavus 82-67 – all of which were played in November.
“We know that they obviously won the UMAC, so they have the automatic bid but not much other than that” Dockter said. “I know our coaches have been keeping tabs on people around the region for a while just for in anticipation of this, but we don’t really know too much about them, so tomorrow we will definitely get to work with that.”
Guard Kendra Wycoff leads the Cougars, who average 69.9 points per game, on the offensive end of the floor with an average of 15.7 points per contest. Wycoff has connected on just over 35.5 percent of her shots this season while launching an astounding 223 3-pointers this season. Over 55 percent of her points have come from beyond the arc this season.
Forwards Emily Auch and Tori Holt drive the attack in the post for the Cougars, ranking first and second, respectively, on the team in both rebounds and free throws attempted. Auch is also second on the team in scoring (behind Wycoff), while Holt holds down the defense, ranking second in blocks.
Bethel University, whom St. Thomas defeated in the MIAC championship, is the only other MIAC team to make the tournament. Bethel will take on Hope University in its first round matchup in Wheaton, Illinois, hosted by Wheaton College. If the Tommies and the Royals both win their first two games, the two teams would meet once again.
“We’re very excited that Bethel got into the bracket, and it really speaks well to our conference,” Sinn said. “They’re a very good team, and I’m glad they got the opportunity to showcase their talents and showcase the MIAC for all of us.”
While the Tommies will take on the Cougars in their first round matchup, the St. Norbert Green Knights will play the Luther Norse in the second game of the St. Paul regional.
St. Norbert comes to St. Paul after winning the Midwest Conference, capping its conference tournament run with a 72-51 victory against Cornell College in the conference championship game Saturday. St. Norbert will take on another conference champion in Luther, which won the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament after finishing second in the conference during the regular season.
“This is the time that you’re preparing for, and we’ve put the preparation in,” Sinn said. “Now it’s time to go out and do it.”