Women's Basketball | 3/4/2015 2:04:00 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324


2015 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship
Round One - Friday, Mar. 6
5:00 p.m. - North Central College (22-5) vs. #25 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (22-6)
7:30 p.m. - #6 Calvin College (27-0) vs. Baldwin Wallace University (22-6)
Round Two - Saturday, Mar. 7
7:00 p.m. - Winners of round one

Video: http://new.livestream.com/calvin-college
Live Stats: http://www.calvin.edu/scoreboard/
Game Updates: www.twitter.com/NCC_Athletics
Tournament Website: http://calvinknights.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/2015_NCAA_Womens_Basketball_Regional
NCAA Division III Championship Digital Program: http://www.ncaa.com/DIIIWomensBasketball

Setting the Scene: Qualifying for the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship for just the third time in program history, North Central travels to Grand Rapids, Mich. for its opening round matchup against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh inside Calvin College's Van Noord Arena.  The other matchup in the Cardinals section of the bracket features host Calvin against Baldwin Wallace University.

NCAA Tournament History: North Central's previous two NCAA Tournament appearances resulted in Final Four bids, as the 1982-83 team captured the program's lone national title and the 1983-84 squad finished fourth. 

UW-Oshkosh qualifies for the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in the history of the program, as the Titans own a 23-10 postseason record. The Titans won the national title in 1996, placed second in 1995 and advanced to the Elite Eight in 1994, 1998 and 1999, while advancing to the third round in last year's tournament.

Series History: UW-Oshkosh holds a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series, as North Central won the team's inaugural matchup in 1989, while the Titans have won four straight contests including a 95-75 victory on Dec. 20, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Calvin enters the weekend unbeaten and ranked No. 6 according to the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll after earning the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference automatic bid by winning the MIAC Tournament last weekend.  The Knights (27-0) hold a 5-3 advantage over North Central in the all-time series, as the Cardinals claimed the first two meetings before dropping five of the last six, including the most recent matchup 77-67 on Dec. 28, 2005.

Baldwin Wallace also received an automatic bid into the 64-team field, winning the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament, as the Yellow Jackets (22-6) and Cardinals have met once previously with North Central coming away with a 64-55 victory during the 1990-91 season.

This Week for the Cardinals: North Central earned an at-large bid to the 64-team field after a runner-up finish in both the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament and regular season.

The Cardinals came back from a six-point halftime deficit to narrowly defeat Elmhurst College, 89-87 in the semifinal to earn the program's first CCIW Tournament victory, before falling to host Wheaton College in the final 92-80.

Both teams surrendered double-digit leads in the championship game, as Wheaton jumped out to a 19-5 lead just over five minutes into the contest, but the Cardinals responded to outscore the Thunder, 41-18 over the final 15 minutes of the half to take a 46-37 lead into halftime.

Coming out of the break, the Cardinals gradually increased its lead to 56-44 as Tess Godhardt put home back-to-back lay-ins while Corrine Rowe nailed a three-pointer on the next possession to give North Central its largest lead of the contest with 16:14 to play.
 
The game's pivotal break came over the next three and a half minutes as Wheaton rattled off a 16-0 run, while the Cardinal offense went cold on 0-for-9 shooting during that span.
 
Wheaton extended its lead to 15 points, capping off its 24-6 run at the 5:52 mark to hold an 81-66 advantage.

North Central fought tough over the final five minutes, drawing to with six points of the lead down the stretch, but the Thunder lead was too much to handle late.
 
Godhardt paced the Cardinal offense with 29 points on 13-of-16 shooting from the field and added a team-high nine rebounds.  Jamie Cuny also finished in double-figures, chipping in 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three.  Cuny also recorded two blocked shots on the evening, as her 89 blocks this season move her atop the program's all-time blocks list.

Scouting the Titans: UW-Oshkosh earned the WIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after a 66-61 win over regular season champion UW-Superior in the WIAC Tournament Championship on Mar. 1.

The Titans dropped the final three games of the regular season, but bounced back nicely to win three straight en route to the WIAC Tournament Championship.

After dropping out of the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll two weeks ago, the Titans re-enter the poll this week, coming in at No. 25.

The Titans have used the same starting lineup in 26-of-28 games this season, featuring a very balanced scoring attack as all-five starters are averaging over seven points per game and nearly 25 minutes per contest.  

Sophomore guard Taylor Schmidt is the lone Titan averaging double-figures with 11.0 ppg, while leading the team in assists per game (2.9) and free throw percentage (.825).  Alex Richard adds 8.9 ppg, while leading the team with 6.2 rpg and 1.3 bpg.

UW-Oshkosh endured six consecutive losing seasons until the arrival of head coach Brad Fischer, as he has led the Titans to 20-wins in each of his first three season at the helm.

National Statistical Rankings: North Central currently leads NCAA Division III in scoring, averaging 93.0 points per game this season, while also leading the nation in three-point field goals per game (14.0).  The Cardinals also rank second in offensive rebounds per game (22.0), as well as eighth in steals per game (14.3) and ninth in assists per game (17.4).  Individually, Cuny ranks 10th in blocked shots per game (3.3), while Godhardt also ranks tenth in field goal percentage (.590).

Single-Season Records: Multiple single-game school records have fallen this season including total field goal attempts (114), free throws made (38), free throws attempted (54), rebounds (76), assists (27), blocked shots (10) and winning margin (66 points). The Cardinals saw a pair of individual school records fall, as Cuny blocked 10 shots and Godhardt scored 40 points in a single game.  Cuny's 89 blocks this season rank her atop the single-season list, while the team's 138 blocks are also a single-season record.

Career Rankings: Multiple Cardinals have entered the program's individual career top-ten, as Bobbi Johns currently ranks third in assists (324) and steals (166).  Maryssa Cladis ranks second in three-point field goals (129) and three-point attempts (461), while ranking eighth in assists (175).  Cuny's 89 blocks this season rank her atop the all-time list while ranking fourth in career three-point field goal percentage (.350).  Kimberly Wilson currently sits fourth on the career three-point field goals list (117) and third on the three-point attempts list (398), while Miranda Grizaffi ranks ninth in career three-point field goals (90) and seventh in three-point attempts (301), and Godhardt ranks third on the career free throw percentage list (.788).