Titans Meet Familiar Foe In Sweet 16 Of NCAA Championship

UW-Oshkosh and nationally ranked Loras College (Iowa), meeting for the sixth time in the past seven years, will clash in the third round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship on Friday (March 13) in Holland, Mich. Tipoff for their second matchup this season is set for 5 p.m. (EDT) in Hope College's DeVos Fieldhouse.

UW-Oshkosh (20-10), making its second straight and ninth overall appearance in the Sweet 16, advanced to third round of the NCAA postseason by defeating Edgewood College (25-3), 61-40, during the opening round Friday (March 6) and Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) (24-4) by a 67-60 score Saturday (March 7) at the Arden Hills (Minn.) Regional.

Loras College (25-4), ranked 13th in the country by D3hoops.com, reached the third round of the Division III Championship for the first time by virtue of its 68-52 win over UW-La Crosse (19-8) in the first round Friday and 71-60 victory in the Greencastle (Ind.) Regional title game at host and fourth-ranked DePauw University (28-2) on Saturday.

UW-Oshkosh, which has won at least 20 games each of the past eight seasons, suffered an 88-83 setback in overtime at Loras College in the teams' most recent matchup Nov. 16 in Dubuque, Iowa. The Titans had defeated Loras College in each of their four previous meetings from 2013-18, including an 83-75 victory over the Duhawks on Nov. 9, 2018.

The winner of the battle between Loras College and UW-Oshkosh will play at 7 p.m. (EDT) Saturday (March 14) in the Holland Sectional championship game against the victor of Friday's other third round matchup that features top-ranked Hope College (29-0) hosting ninth-ranked Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio) (28-2) at 7 p.m. (EDT).

Hope College kept its undefeated season intact with regional home wins of 69-18 over Grove City College (Pa.) (25-3) on Friday and 72-69 against Illinois Wesleyan University (20-9) on Saturday.

Baldwin Wallace University, which has matched the program season record for wins, won its own Berea Regional by scores of 67-42 Friday over Haverford College (Pa.) (23-5) and 60-58 against 18th-ranked University of Chicago (Ill.) (21-6) on Saturday.

The 64-team NCAA Division III Championship continues with semifinal games March 20 before culminating with the national title game March 21. The 2020 Final Four will be held at the Capital Center Performance Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

UW-Oshkosh, making its 16th NCAA postseason trip, is returning to the Sweet 16 for the ninth time after winning at least one Division III Championship game in each of its past 13 appearances. The Titans, the 1996 national champion and 1995 runners-up, sport a 31-14 record in the national tournament, including a 10-5 mark and four Sweet 16 trips in the last seven years under eighth-year head coach Brad Fischer (185-47 record). UW-Oshkosh's 31 NCAA postseason wins are tied for 14th in Division III history. The Titans, attempting to clinch a spot in the Final Four for the third time, also advanced to the third round of the national tournament in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2014, 2017 and 2019.

Loras College, which had never won an NCAA tournament game or been nationally ranked before this season, returned to the NCAA field for the fifth time and second straight for 13th-year head coach Justin Heinzen (227-126 record). The Duhawks, whose 25 wins this season are a program record, were eliminated during the first round of the Division III Championship in their previous appearances in 2003, 2014, 2016 and 2019.

Sectional host Hope College boasts a 40-18 record in NCAA tournament play. The Flying Dutch, back in the Division III Championship for the eighth consecutive year and 21st time overall, claimed national titles in 1990 and 2006 before finishing as the runners-up in 2010. In the Sweet 16 for the 12th time, Hope College is seeking its fourth trip to the Final Four and third under 24th-year head coach Brian Morehouse (611-90 record), who became the fastest NCAA coach to reach 600 wins when he accomplished the feat during his 690th contest Jan. 25. Hope College made previous Sweet 16 appearances in 1990, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Baldwin Wallace University has a 16-14 record in the Division III tournament. The Yellow Jackets returned to their second straight and 15th overall national tournament under 30th-year head coach and 2020 Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Cheri Harrer (612-223 record), who won her 600th career game Feb. 1. Baldwin Wallace University, seeking its first Final Four berth, is back in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time since also reaching the third round in 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2014.

UW-Oshkosh enters the Holland Sectional leading the country with 11.9 turnovers per game. The Titans, who finished fourth in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season standings, became the first fourth-seeded team to make the conference tournament championship game before going on to secure the league's automatic berth into the Division III Championship. The WIAC tournament title was UW-Oshkosh's sixth overall and fifth in the last seven years.

Averaging 67.5 points and allowing 57.8 per contest, UW-Oshkosh has won each of the past 26 games in which it has held opponents under 60 points. The Titans, who opened the season with an 11-9 record, have won six straight games and nine of their last 10.

Leah Porath, the WIAC Player of the Year, leads the Titans with 17.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game to go along with a .489 field goal percentage, a .408 3-point percentage and 49 made 3-pointers. Porath, who has scored in double figures in 33 of the last 34 games, has 524 points on the year to become the program's first 500-point scorer since their 1996 national championship campaign.

UW-Oshkosh had three All-WIAC players as Olivia Campbell, who also was tabbed to the league's All-Defensive Team, and Nikki Arneson garnered Honorable Mention recognition. Arneson is second on the team with 12.1 points per contest and paces the squad with a .789 free throw percentage. Campbell, who leads the entire division with 1,043 minutes played on the year, averages 7.0 points and 5.2 rebounds as well as team bests of 4.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.

Ten Titans are scoring more than two points per game, including Karsyn Rueth at 7.3, Brooke Freitag 5.4, Emily Miller 5.0, Katie Ludwig 4.4, Abby Kaiser 3.2, Emily Higgins 2.6 and Claire Staples 2.5. Rueth has made 47 3-pointers this season while shooting 39.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Loras College, which finished second to fifth-ranked Wartburg College (Iowa) (25-4) in both the American Rivers Conference regular season and postseason, earned one of 20 at-large berths into the NCAA field for the second straight year.

The Duhawks feature a regular starting lineup that has accounted for more than 77 percent of the team's points and better than 75 percent of its field goal attempts this season. Marissa Schroeder paces the Duhawks' starting five with 15.3 points per game while Macenzie Kraemer adds 14.8 per contest, Courtney Schnoor 13.0, Kari Fitzpatrick 11.3 and Riley Eckhart 9.0.

Kraemer and Schroeder, who is also leading the team with 7.1 rebounds per game and 25 blocks, received All-ARC First Team accolades this season. Fitzpatrick and Schnoor were named to the all-league Second Team. Kraemer has made a team-best 52 3-pointers on the year and leads the squad with an .870 free throw percentage, 94 assists and 92 steals. Schnoor, shooting a team-leading 52.5 percent from the field, joins Fitzpatrick at 4.7 rebounds per game.

Loras College's 79.1 points per game ranks eighth in the nation. The Duhawks, ceding 63.1 points per contest, also rank second in the country in made free throws (504), seventh in free throw attempts (669) and 10th with 14.3 steals per game. None of Loras College's reserves scores more than Madison Fleckenstein's 3.6 points per game.

Hope College, the last unbeaten team in the division, heads into the weekend with the best scoring defense in the country at 42.3 points allowed per game. The Flying Dutch, averaging 75.7 points on the offensive end, also lead the nation with a +33.4 average scoring margin while ranking third in field goal percentage defense (.306), fourth in average turnover margin (+11.2), sixth in steals per game (15.5) and 10th in turnovers forced per contest (25.5).

The Flying Dutch, who have won 20 consecutive home games, also pace the division in home attendance, averaging more than 1,000 fans each game in DeVos Fieldhouse. Hope College drew 2,007 attendees for its regional title game Saturday and 1,915 spectators for Friday's opening round contest.

Hope College, which ascended to the top spot in the D3hoops.com poll for the first time this season March 1, is led by Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Player Kenedy Schoonveld, league Defensive Player of the Year and All-MIAA First Team honoree Olivia Voskuil, and All-MIAA Second Team member Lauren Newman. The Flying Dutch have remained undefeated despite losing leading scorer Sydney Muller (10.6 points per game) due to injury after the team's 18th game.

The balanced and reconfigured Flying Dutch offense features 15 remaining healthy players averaging more than two points per contest as Schoonveld scores 10.3 a game, Voskuil 9.4 and Newman 7.8. Schoonfeld has knocked down a team-leading 31 3-pointers. Voskuil averages a team-best 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.9 steals while averaging 18.5 minutes played per game.

The deep Hope College bench includes Courtney Barnes and Claire Baguley, who average 5.6 and 5.4 points per game, respectively, as no member of the Flying Dutch plays more than Schoonveld's 21.7 minutes per contest.

Baldwin Wallace University, which heads to Michigan on a 14-game winning streak, clinched both the regular season and postseason crowns in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets, whose .771 free throw percentage ranks sixth in the country, is one win shy of breaking a tie for most wins in a season in school history.

The Yellow Jackets, averaging 71.5 points and allowing 55.2 per game, are headlined by a quartet of All-OAC performers as Hannah Fecht and Riley Schill were named to the league's First Team, Kara Marshall was tabbed to the Second Team and Lilly Edwards received Honorable Mention laurels despite not starting a game all season.

Schill, who ranks ninth in the nation with a .883 free throw percentage, averages a team-high 11.7 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game to go along with a .507 field goal percentage while making 23 3-pointers on 40.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Fecht, contributing 10.4 points per contest, has gone a team-best 67 of 162 (.414) from 3-point range.

Marshall chips in 8.4 points per game and shoots 47.9 percent from the floor. Edwards, who plays 15 minutes per game off the bench, averages 8.8 points and a team-leading 5.4 rebounds a contest.

Kasey Hughes and Megan Scheibelhut round out Baldwin Wallace University's typical starting lineup at 8.2 and 2.6 points per game, respectively, while reserves Sydney Diedrich, Gabby Garrett and Megan Hensel have combined to add 16.9 points and 9.6 rebounds and per contest to go along with 82 total steals.

This weekend's three other sectional hosts are second-ranked Tufts University (Mass.) (28-1), third-ranked Bowdoin College (Maine) (27-2) and seventh-ranked Amherst College (Mass.) (24-4).

DeVos Fieldhouse was the venue for Division III Women's Basketball Final Four in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013.

UW-Oshkosh, the only women's or men's basketball team from the state of Wisconsin still playing in the Division III Championships, advanced to the national title game in 1995 – the last time the Final Four was held in Columbus, Ohio.

NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Holland Sectional Website

NCAA Division III Women's Basketball • NCAA.com Website

NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Interactive Bracket

2020 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Digital Program

UW-Oshkosh NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Holland Sectional Media Guide