ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team is set to take on Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in the opening round of the NCAA Championships at 5 p.m. Friday. The four-team regional round is hosted by UW-Whitewater with the host Warhawks taking on UW-Superior at 7 p.m. Friday. The winners Friday will face each other at 7 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to the round of 16.
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NCAA tournament history: Gustavus is making its second straight NCAA tournament appearance and seventh overall (1991, 95, 2003, 07, 08, 17, 18). The Gusties are 1-6 in national tourney games, with their lone win coming against Loras in the first round of the 2003 tournament. Last season, the Gusties lost 67-57 to DePauw University in the first round.
The series: Friday’s opening round game against Rose-Hulman is the first time the two programs will meet in women’s basketball. Although, if the Gusties were to win, they would face the winner of UW-Whitewater and UW-Superior, who are familiar foes. Gustavus lost to UW-Whitewater 68-60 on Dec. 29 at the Wartburg holiday tournament and defeated UW-Superior 67-46 the following day. In the UW-Superior win, Laurie Kelly became the second fastest head coach in program history to reach 100 wins. Kelly is now 113-48 in six seasons at Gustavus.
Scouting Rose-Hulman: The Fightin’ Engineers enter the NCAA tournament after winning the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference playoff tournament. They defeated Hanover 76-73 in the semifinal and Transylvania 57-51 in the championship. Rose-Hulman’s strength is its defense as it allows just 47.6 points per game, which ranks sixth out of 450 Division III teams. The Fightin’ Engineers are also strong offensively, shooting 45.1 percent from the field, which ranks 12th in the nation. Their rebound margin of +11.6 is 14th best in the county. 5-11 guard Ally Bromenschenkel and 5-9 forward Chiarra Franklin lead the offense with 12.9 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. They are also the top two rebounders on the team, averaging 7.4 and 6.1 per game, respectively.
Record watch: Mikayla Miller has 1,752 career points and is 28 shy of breaking the program record, held by Jess Vadnais (2004-08) with 1,779 points. Miller is already the program record holder in career steals (309) and career field goals made (615). Miranda Rice will play in her 110th career game against Rose-Hulman, extending her program record for games played.
All-MIAC: Mikayla Miller and Miranda Rice earned MIAC All-Conference, Kendall Thompson was named honorable mention, and Ava Gonsorowski was honored as MIAC Rookie of the Year. Miller was also named to the MIAC All-Defensive Team.