By Chris Lindeke, Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Box Score

The No. 12 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team executed on both ends of the floor in the fourth quarter Saturday night to clinch the program’s fourth trip to the Final Four since 2008 with a 68-62 victory against UW-Oshkosh in front of an energetic crowd at Kachel Gymnasium.

The Warhawks (27-4 overall) will take on Amherst (Mass.) in the national semifinals this Thursday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh, Pa. Tipoff time has yet to be announced.

Trailing by three points with 2:51 on the clock, UW-W closed the game on a 9-1 run, including seven straight points from freshman guard Kacie Carollo to close out the game.

Johanna Taylor started the run with a putback off a miss, and Carollo gave UW-Whitewater the lead for good with a 3-pointer at the 1:59 mark.

The two teams exchanged empty possessions before Carollo took a pass from Taylor, pump faked and finished the layup to make it 66-62 with 17 seconds to play. UW-W got another stop before Carollo knocked down a pair of free throws to send the team to its first appearance in the national semifinals since 2014.

Rebekah Schumacher knocked down six 3-pointers on her way to a career-high 22 points to go with six rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Aleah Grundahl totaled 14 points and four rebounds, while Carollo collected 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Taylor contributed with nine points, nine rebounds, six assists and three blocks, and Yssa Sto. Domingo recorded eight points, four rebounds and three assists.

Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, but the Titans (22-7) held a 7-2 advantage with 2:28 left in the first quarter. The Warhawks ended the period on a 6-0 run, including buckets from Grundahl and Sto. Domingo, for an 8-7 lead.

UW-Oshkosh heated up in the second, turning a 12-12 tie two minutes into the quarter into a 20-14 advantage with 3:40 on the clock. UWO’s lead grew to as may as eight in the quarter, but Schumacher’s layup in the final second brought UW-W to within six by halftime.

UW-Whitewater chipped away at the Titans’ lead early in the third, but UWO built its advantage back up to eight in the final minute of the quarter. The Warhawks took the momentum back on a 3-pointer by Sto. Domingo and a layup by Grundahl on their final two possessions of the period to draw within 50-47.

A 3-pointer by Schumacher tied the game at 52-52 with 7:42 remaining in the contest, and Grundahl’s free throws 40 seconds later gave UW-Whitewater the lead. The two teams traded baskets before the Titans tied the game on a 3-pointer just past the midway point of the fourth quarter.

UW-Oshkosh hit another 3-pointer two minutes later before the Warhawks staged their rally over the final 2 1/2 minutes.

[Attendance was 1225, only five more than on Friday night.]

More information on the university’s plans to celebrate the team’s run to the Final Four will be announced in the coming days.

By Chris Lindeke, Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Friday, March 11, 2022

Box Score

Rebekah Schumacher’s Steal-and-Layup (Video)

The No. 12 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team erased a five-point deficit over the final minute of overtime and went ahead for good on [Whitewater native] Rebekah Schumacher’s steal-and-layup in the final seconds Friday night on its way to a thrilling 78-76 victory against No. 16 Smith (Mass.) in a third-round game of the 2022 NCAA Division III Championship at Kachel Gymnasium [with 1220 fans in attendance.]

The Warhawks (26-4 overall) host Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival UW-Oshkosh (22-6) in the Whitewater Sectional final on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Kachel Gymnasium. The winner of the contest advances to the Final Four, which will be contested March 17 and 19 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Tickets for Saturday’s game will go on sale starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Kachel Gymnasium entrance. Doors to the gym will open at 6 p.m. The first 150 UW-Whitewater students to attend will receive free admission courtesy of DLK Enterprises and UW-W Housing.

UW-Whitewater trailed in Friday’s game 76-71 with just over a minute to play in overtime. Maggie Trautsch was fouled on a 3-point attempt on the team’s first possession in the final minute and knocked down all three free throws to bring UW-W within two.

After a stop on the other end, Trautsch was fouled in the lane and hit two more from the free-throw line to tie the game at 76-76.

The Pioneers (25-3) advanced the ball into their half court following a timeout. With seven seconds to play, Schumacher stole the inbound pass and saved it to Aleah Grundahl, who fired a pass down the court to a wide-open Schumacher, who layed the ball in uncontested with less than one second on the clock.

Smith was unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer.

Kacie Carollo tallied a team-high 19 points, while Grundahl finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Yssa Sto. Domingo knocked down five 3-pointers on her way to 15 points, and Trautsch hit 7-of-9 at the free-throw line on her way to 12 points.

The Warhawks converted 27-of-36 (75 percent) from the free-throw line and hit 9-of-20 (45 percent) from 3-point range. The Pioneers shot 46.9 percent from the floor.

UW-W raced out to a 6-0 lead before Smith rallied for the next 11 points for an 11-6 lead at the midway point of the first quarter. Trautsch gave the Warhawks a 19-18 advantage in the final minute of the period with a driving layup.

UW-Whitewater built its lead to six following a 3-pointer by Carollo with 6:21 on the clock. The Pioneers responded with a 9-0 run for a three-point lead just over three minutes later. Neither team led by more than one possession over the final half of the period, and UW-W held a 36-34 advantage.

The third quarter remained tightly contested until Sto. Domingo hit a 3-pointer between a pair of baskets by Grundahl for a 51-43 UW-W lead with 2:08 remaining. The Warhawk lead grew to as many as nine, but Smith trimmed its deficit to four by the end of the third.

The two teams went back and forth to start the fourth quarter before Carollo’s 3-pointer with 6:29 to play made it 61-56. She hit two free throws just over a minute later for a 63-56 score before the Pioneers rallied to tie the game at 63-63 with 2:54 on the clock.

Grundahl gave UW-Whitewater the lead with 2:25 left, and neither team scored again until the final seconds, when Smith tied the game on a layup to send it to overtime.

Sto. Domingo started the extra period with a 3-pointer, but the Pioneers held the lead for a majority of the overtime before Trautsch’s five free throws and Schumacher’s final bucket sent the Warhawks to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2014.

UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh have met three times this season prior to Saturday’s matchup. The Warhawks took two of three games from the Titans, including a 67-59 win on Feb. 23 in the semifinals of the WIAC Tournament at Kachel Gymnasium. The two teams split two regular season games, with the home team taking both contests.

[Homepage photo credit: Evan Halpop, UW-W student photographer, Feb. 9, 2022 game]