By Merit Pages News

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship and will host the first and second rounds in the NCAA Whitewater Regional this Friday and Saturday at Kachel Gymnasium.

The Warhawks (23-4 overall) will face Ripon in the first round Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Red Hawks earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Midwest Conference Tournament championship.

DePauw (Ind.) and Illinois Wesleyan complete the four-team pod and will square off in the first round Friday at 5 p.m. The Tigers earned a Pool C, or at-large, berth to the NCAA Tournament after reaching the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Titans claimed a Pool A, or automatic, bid after winning the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament.

The winners of the first-round games will play in the second round Saturday at 7 p.m. at Kachel Gymnasium.

UW-Whitewater earned an at-large bid to the national tournament, its sixth consecutive appearance and 13th in the last 14 seasons. The team claimed the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 12-2 league record and reached the WIAC Tournament championship game last week.

The Warhawks were second in the NCAA Region IX rankings last week.

See below for the complete weekend schedule.

Friday, March 4

Game 1: DePauw (home) vs. Illinois Wesleyan, 5 p.m.

Game 2: UW-Whitewater (home) vs. Ripon, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 5

Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.

*host will be the home team; if host does not advance, winner of Game 1 will be home team

The following local UW-Whitewater student-athletes are members of the 2021-22 Warhawk women’s basketball team:

Rebekah Schumacher of Whitewater, WI (Whitewater High School), a senior majoring in elementary education.

Kacie Carollo of Whitewater, WI (Whitewater High School), a freshman majoring in integrated science and business.