WAVERLY, Iowa – No. 2/2 women's basketball is set to open the 2024-25 season at home at its own Wartburg Tipoff Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9 with games against both Westminster College and Greenville University.
Last Season
The Knights went 16-0 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play to capture the regular season title for an 11
th time before winning its fifth A-R-C Tournament Championship for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Wartburg hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, where the Knights defeated both Wisconsin Lutheran College and Illinois Wesleyan University. The Knights then traveled to Providence, R.I., where they were victorious in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds over Bates College and Washington and Lee University. Wartburg's tournament run came to an end in the Final Four in Columbus, Ohio where Wartburg was defeated by Smith College in overtime.
2024-25 Outlook
Wartburg will return three starters from a season ago, as well as eight of its top 10 scorers from 2023-24. The Knights have program-best rankings in both the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and D3hoops.com national preseason polls, coming in at No. 2 overall in both. The Knights were also selected as preseason favorites to win the A-R-C, as voted on by the conference coaches.
"Our team is really excited to get this season started," said head coach
Bob Amsberry at his annual media day. "We'd love to build on the momentum from last year. We've got a great group of returners that have been through a lot together in the last several years. We're looking to continue to grow together and hopefully move the program to another level."
The Knights returners include last season's A-R-C MVP and D3hoops.com All-American,
Jaedon Murphy, as well as the 2022-23 A-R-C MVP
Sara Faber. The Knights also return
Britney Young, who is a two-time Second-team All-Conference performer and
Lauren Woeste and
Maggie Wilkins, who have earned All-Conference honorable mention honors. Murphy was named a Second-team preseason All-American by D3hoops.com.
"The leadership is awesome and about as good as you can have with the seniors we have," said Amsberry of his team's player-led leadership. "We're senior-heavy with five fifth-years and four true seniors and as I look back on their careers they have continued to accomplish more and more each year and have continued to grow."
The Knights will have two starting roles to fill from last season after
Macy Harris and
Taylor Runchey both graduated. "We're going to have to work through some things," Amsberry said about replacing the minutes from Harris and Runchey. "Trying to figure out how to replace their minutes and production from last season is our focus early on."
The Knights will welcome five freshmen student athletes to the roster this season. "It's going to be hard, but I'm not ruling it out," answered Amsberry when asked if any freshman will see action on a veteran-heavy team. "They are learning every day and we're seeing improvements, so I wont rule anything out because sometimes a kid just starts to click and we have some good freshmen."
"We're going to hang our hat on defense early in the season because we know how many games that got us through last year," said Amsberry while speaking about the non-conference schedule to begin the season. "Until the offense is clicking we need to be able to win on the defensive end of the ball. Our non-conference is important because we scheduled teams that play different styles and look different from each other. I think that was key last year in postseason play when we were able to play a lot of different styles, so we need to be prepared for that again this season."
Wartburg will be at home in four of its first five games of the season, beginning with the Wartburg Tipoff Tournament. The Knights' A-R-C opener will be on the road Tuesday, Nov. 26 against Luther College.
