ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 11/15 Wartburg women's basketball team fell 85-56 to the No. 2/3 St. Thomas Tommies in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. St. Thomas moves to 30-1 on the season and advances to the Final Four.
 
Senior center Adrienne Boettger (Cedar Falls) led the Knights with 12 points, followed by junior forward Amanda Brainerd (DeWitt) with 10. Sophomore forward Kaitlyn Volesky (Mount Vernon) and Brainerd tied for the team lead in rebounds with six.
 
The Orange and Black maintained a close game with the Tommies throughout the first quarter by never trailing more than six points. Sophomore guard Payton Draper (Waverly) matched a career-high by connecting on two first quarter three-pointers to help the Knights end the quarter only down five (19-14).
 
A layup and two quick three-pointers by St. Thomas bumped the Tommie lead up to 13 (27-14) with 8:09 left in the second quarter. An ensuing 12-7 run by St. Thomas brought the Tommies up 39-19 with 4:07 to play in the second, before layups by junior guard Emma Gerdes (Cedar Falls) and a free throw by Brainerd got the Knights within 16 (43-27) going into the half.
 
St. Thomas opened up the third quarter with a 7-4 run to push the lead to 21 (52-31), and continued to lead by 21 or more the duration of the game.
 
Wartburg ends the season 27-4 overall, including 15-1 in conference play.

Wartburg Press Conference