WAVERLY, Iowa – No. 8/12 women's basketball is set to make its ninth-consecutive trip to the Division III Championships tournament beginning on Friday, Mar. 7 with a first round matchup against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 5 p.m. at Gus Young Court in Saint Peter, Minn. No. 5/6 Gustavus College is the top seed of Wartburg's pod and is hosting rounds one and two.
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Game Schedule
3/7: Wartburg vs UW-Stevens Point - 5 PM | Gustavus vs Wis. Lutheran - 7:30 PM
3/8: Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner - 7:30 PM
The Series
- UW-Stevens Point
- Friday will mark the first matchup since the 1996-97 season
- The Pointers lead the series 2-0
- Friday will be the first NCAA Tournament matchup between these programs
- Gustavus
- These programs have met 18 times with each team winning nine games
- Gustavus is 6-2 in the last eight meetings with Wartburg
- Wartburg won the last meeting between these teams 70-58 during the 2010-11 season
- The Knights are 2-6 all-time on the road against Gustavus
- Wis. Lutheran
- These teams met earlier this season, where Wartburg won 62–55 at home
- Wartburg is 5-0 all-time against the Warriors
- These teams met in the first round of last year's Division III Championships
Press Conference (3/4)
Bob Amsberry
Jaedon Murphy and Lauren Woeste
Wartburg
- The Knights enter the tournament with an overall record of 25-2 and an American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) record of 16-0
- On a 13-game win streak
- Won A-R-C regular season and tournament titles this season (back-to-back seasons)
- Ranked No. 8 in the WBCA Top 25 and No. 12 in the D3hoops.com Top 25
- Ninth consecutive trip to the Division III Championships for Wartburg (no tournament in 2020-21)
- Three Final Four appearances in that time (including 2023-24)
- Wartburg has three scorers averaging 14.9 points or higher this season in Jaedon Murphy (15.9 PPG), Sara Faber (15 PPG) and Lauren Woeste (14.9 PPG)
- Woeste currently has the top field goal percentage in Division III at 65%
- The Knights had the top scoring defense in the A-R-C this season, allowing just 53.6 points per game
- Also had the top average scoring margin in the conference at +17.1
- Seven Knights have made 10 or more three pointers this season, led by 40+ from Britney Young, Murphy and Faber
- Wartburg is the top team in assists per game out of the A-R-C with an average of 16.6 per game
- Faber leads the team with 3.9 per game followed by 3.3 per game from Young
- Woeste and Murphy lead the Knights in rebounding with 7.8 and 7.2 rebounds per game
- Wartburg averages a conference-high 12.5 offensive rebounds per game
- The Knights average 10.5 steals per game and 4.4 blocks per game as a team this season
- Faber is averaging 3.0 steals per game this season, which led the A-R-C
- Six Knights average one or more steals per game
- Murphy averages 1.9 blocks per game this season, which leads the A-R-C
Records/Milestones
- Sara Faber
- All-time steals leader at Wartburg
- Four steals from tying single-season school record
- Surpassed 1,500 career points this season
- Fifth all-time in scoring at Wartburg (1,614)
- Fourth all-time at Wartburg in free throws made (340)
- Fifth all-time at Wartburg in assists (323)
- Sixth all-time at Wartburg in three pointers made (210)
- Surpassed 500 career rebounds this season
- Jaedon Murphy
- Second all-time in scoring at Wartburg
- Second all-time at Wartburg in field goals made (697)
- Second all-time in blocked shots at Wartburg (166)
- Trails first by 13 blocks
- Surpassed 1,500 & 1,750 career points this season
- Third all-time at Wartburg in three pointers made (243)
- Trails second by one three pointer
- Surpassed 750 rebounds this season
- Fifth all-time at Wartburg (799)
- Lauren Woeste
- Second all-time at Wartburg in career field goal percentage (64.3%)
- This will be her third consecutive season posting a top-10 field goal percentage in single season history at Wartburg
- Surpassed 500 career rebounds this season
- Britney Young
- All-time leader in three pointers made at Wartburg (272)
- Holds single-season record for three pointers made in a season (88)
- Surpassed 1,000 career points this season
- Fourth all-time at Wartburg in assists (381)
- Tied for ninth all-time in steals at Wartburg (173)
UW-Stevens Point
- The Pointers enter the tournament with an overall record of 18-8 and an 8-6 mark in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) record
- Fell to UW-La Crosse in first round of the WIAC Tournament (has not played since Tuesday, Feb. 25)
- 2-6 against top-25 opponents this season
- First Division III Championships appearance since the 2015-16 seaso
- UW-Stevens point holds opponents to an average of 56.4 points per game this season
- Averages 66.5 points per game offensively
- The Pointer offense is led by Alexa Thomson, who averages 17.2 points per game on 48.1% shooting from the field, 36.6% from three and 79.1% from the free throw line
- Also leads the team in rebounding with 8.7 per game this season
- Has made over 100 free throws this season
- UW-Stevens Point has a +8.3 rebounding margin and a +4.2 turnover margin entering the weekend
- Both Courtney Krueger and Maija Rice lead the team in assists with 67 and 53 respectively
- Rice also leads the team in steals with 55 this season
- Gabby Gawlitta (10.4), Rice (8.5), Karissa Smith (7.4) and Krueger (5.6) all average 5+ points per game
- Five different Pointers have recorded 20+ steals this season
Gustavus
- Enters the weekend as the host school and with a record of 26-1 overall and 17-1 in conference play
- Defeated Bethel 66-53 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Tournament championship
- Only loss this season came to Bethel at home 72-58 (1/18/25)
- Ranked No. 5 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 and No. 6 in the WBCA Top 25 poll
- Fourth consecutive trip to the Division III Championships for Gustavus and 11th overall
- Gustavus has the fifth scoring defense in all of Division III, allowing opponents an average of 47.4 points per game through 27 games
- The Gusties have a balanced offensive attack with five players averaging seven or more points per game this season
- Emma Kniefel leads the way with 15.1 points per game on 52.2% FG shooting, 41.4% shooting from three and a free throw percentage of 78.2%
- Gustavus averages 15.9 assists per game this season
- Kylie Baranick leads the way with 3.1 per game as well as 2.7 per game from Kniefel
- Five Gusties have recorded 30+ steals this season
- Led by Baranick and Kniefel with 40+ each
- Gustavus has a +6.3 rebounding margin and a +7.0 turnover margin as a team
Wisconsin Lutheran
- The Warriors enter the weekend with an overall record of 21-7 and a conference record of 15-1
- On a 16-game win streak
- Won the NACC Tournament title to punch its ticket to the tournament
- Back-to-back seasons making the Division III Championships
- Margie Stevens is the leading scorer for Wisconsin Lutheran this season with 15.2 points per game
- 39.1% FG, 30.1% 3P and 84.8% FT
- The Warriors allow an average of 52.6 points per game this season, while averaging 62.5 points per game offensively
- Jayden Hill leads the team in rebounding (7.6 per game) and steals (2.3 per game)
- Also adds 7.3 points per game
- Wisconsin Lutheran has positive margins in both rebounding (4.5) and turnovers (3.9)
