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Howard Payne Wins D3 ChampionshipYellow Jackets Prevail Over Messiah
Box Score Using a relentless 2-3 zone defense and strong inside game, the Lady Jackets (33-0) became the first Division III national championship to go undefeated since Washington (Mo.) University accomplished the feat in 2000. “As a coach, these kids couldn’t have done anything more than what I asked from them all season – not just on the floor, but off the floor,” Howard Payne coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “I coach truly great people, not just great players.” Senior forward Kimberly Hoffman led Howard Payne with 21 points and eight rebounds, while senior center Stacey Blalock added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard and national Division III player of the year Meia Daniels also scored 15 points and dished out five assists, earning the tournament’s most outstanding player award. Howard Payne used a late first-half run to take a 35-25 halftime lead, then pulled away from the Falcons (30-3) in the second half, leading by as many as 19 points at 53-34 with 10:28 remaining. The Lady Jackets outrebounded Messiah 40-27 and committed only 10 turnovers. “Every time we’d make a run, score four or five straight points, they’d answer. They got it done,” Messiah coach Mike Miller said. Senior All-American guard Nikki Lobach led Messiah with 20 points and seven assists, while Lauren Schurr added 11 points. Named to the all-tournament team were Daniels, Hoffman, Lobach, Tiffany Morton of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Tina Grace of Oglethorpe (Ga.) The Lady Jackets are the fifth unbeaten national champion since the Division III tournament started in 1982. The others were Capital (Ohio) in 1995, Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1996 and Washington (Mo.) in 1999 and 2000. Howard Payne, which was appearing in the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive year, is the first team from the American Southwest Conference to win the national championship. Messiah, in its 10th tournament appearance, was in the championship game for the second time, falling to Washington (Mo.) in the 2001 title contest.
Warhawks Win ConsolationUW-Whitewater Defeats Oglethorpe in 3rd Place GameBox Score The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater battled back from a seven-point second half deficit Saturday to defeat Oglethorpe University, 80-67, to capture third place in the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament. Trailing 50-43 with 13:27 remaining after a basket by Oglethorpe’s Hannah Brooks, the Warhawks (29-4) used their strong inside play to go on a 25-8 run over the next nine minutes to take control of the game. Tiffany Morton, who overcame early foul trouble to lead UW-Whitewater with 19 points and 21 rebounds, put the Warhawks ahead to stay at 51-50 on a basket with 10:45 to play. "I was proud of the way we were able to regroup in the second half,” UW-Whitewater coach Keri Carollo said. “It wasn’t pretty at times, but to come out of here with a third-place trophy and finish the season with a win was quite an accomplishment.” The Warhawks, who had a significant height advantage over the Stormy Petrels, tied a Division III women’s tournament record by outrebounding Oglethorpe 69-30, with 32 of the boards coming on the offensive end. North Central (Ill.) College had set the record for rebounds in a tournament game with 69 in 1984 against Gettysburg (Pa.) College. UW-Whitewater dominated the boards in the first half in building up a 30-21 lead, but the Stormy Petrels’ tenacious defense got them back in the game. Katie Kulavic scored seven points during an 18-5 run to close out the half, giving Oglethorpe (27-7) a 39-35 halftime lead. “We played hard for 30 minutes, and then we ran out of gas,” Oglethorpe coach Ron Sattele said. Kelsey Hendrickson added 15 points and Meghan Schmidt 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for UW-Whitewater. Anna Findley led five players in double figures for Oglethorpe with 21 points, while Kulavic added 13.
And Now There are TwoChampionship Game Features Howard Payne & MessiahThe Division III national championship game on Saturday will pit Howard Payne, Tex. and Messiah, Pa. They advanced to the title game by winning semi-final contests on Friday, Messiah topping Oglethorpe, Ga. 80-60 and Howard Payne outlasting UW-Whitewater 69-59.
First Game Summary Five players scored in double figures for the Falcons (30-2), who advanced to Saturday’s 5 p.m. championship game to face the winner of Friday’s second semifinal contest between Howard Payne (Texas) University (31-0) and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (28-3). “We’re thrilled with how we played, took care of the basketball and shot the ball,” Falcons’ coach Mike Miller said. “We can play just about any style, and it showed tonight.” Oglethorpe (27-6), the champions of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament, led the first 4 ½ minutes of the game, but Messiah used the outside shooting of Lauren Schurr and the inside play of All-American Nikki Lobach and Silalei Shani to run off 15 straight points to take a 24-10 lead seven minutes into the game. Shooting 56 percent from the field in the first half, Messiah built a 44-22 lead with five minutes remaining in the half and led 51-33 at halftime. The Stormy Petrels got no closer than 14 points in the second half. “They took us out of our game. They put a lot of pressure on our shooters,” Oglethorpe coach Ron Sattele said. Shani led the Falcons with 16 points, while Schurr hit four 3-pointers in adding 14 points. Tina Grace led Oglethrope, which was making its first Final Four appearance in school history, with 21 points. It’s the second time Messiah, the champions of the MAC Commonwealth Conference, has advanced to the championship game. The Falcons fell to Washington (Mo.) University 67-45 in the 2001 finals in Danbury, Conn.
Second Game Summary The Lady Jackets (32-0) will meet Messiah (Pa.) College, an 80-60 winner over Oglethorpe (Ga.) at 5 p.m. Saturday to determine this year’s national champion. Howard Payne is in the title game for the first time in school history. Howard Payne missed its first 14 shots from the field, but trailed only 3-0 before Meia Daniels hit a 3-point shot to get the Lady Jackets on the board with 14:46 left in the first half. A 10-2 run, capped by Elaine Hobbs’ 3-point play, gave Howard Payne a 27-17 lead with 4:55 left in the first half. Whitewater (28-4), which was in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years, whittled a 14-point Howard Payne lead to seven at 46-39 with 9:58 remaining on Tiffany Morton’s two free throws. But Daniels, named Thursday as the national player of the year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches of America, hit a jumper in the lane and a 3-point basket to stem the rally. “When coach calls a play for me, that’s him telling me we need a bucket,” said Daniels, who led Howard Payne with 20 points, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Kimberly Hoffman added 13 points. Howard Payne overcame 33 percent shooting from the field by outrebounding Whitewater 43-31, including 21 offensive rebounds, and its swarming defense caused 27 Warhawk turnovers and held the nation’s best 3-point shooting team to 3-of-13 from beyond the arc. “We felt we needed to do a better job (of rebounding),” Lady Jackets’ coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “To get 21 offensive rebounds and limit them to nine showed what kind of performance we had.” Morton led Whitewater with 22 points and seven rebounds. “They’re good, they’re tough, they’re strong, they’re athletic,” Warhawks’ coach Keri Carollo said. “Meia Daniels is the real deal. When we got within seven, she hit the big shots.”
And Now There Are FourChampionship weekend features top DIII teamsPosted March 15, 2008 The original field of 63 teams is now down to the final four who will compete for a national championship in Holland, Mich. on the campus of Hope College the weekend of March 21-22. Advancing to the semi-finals as Sectional champions are teams from Howard Payne University of Brownwood, Texas (31-0), Messiah College of Grantham, Pa. (27-2), Oglethorpe University of Atlanta, Ga. (27-5), and the University of Wisconsin/Whitewater (28-3). None of the teams have advanced this far in past tournament appearances. Messiah is appearing in its 10th NCAA tournament, the last eight in-a-row. UW-Whitewater is in the tournament for the eighth time, but for the first time since 1995. Howarne Payne is making its fourth straight tournament appearance while Oglethorpe has a string of three straight appearances.
Tournament Field AnnouncedThirty-nine conferences are automatic qualifiersPosted March 2, 2008 The NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Committee has announced the field of 63 teams for the 2008 championship. Click here for tournament field.Championships Headed Toward SelloutPre-Tournament Sales About to EndPosted February 26, 2008 Hope College officials reported today an amazing response from the public for tickets for the NCAA Division III women's basketball championship to be held at the college's DeVos Fieldhouse on March 21 and 22.Eva Dean Folkert, women's athletic director and tournament director, reported that less than 100 tickets remain for each day from the amount alloted to pre-tournament public sales. DeVos Fieldhouse has a seating capacity 3,200. Folkert announced that the pre-tournament sale of tickets is scheduled to conclude this Saturday, March 1st and possibly before then based on sales the rest of this week. The college is holding tickets for the fans of the four teams that will ultimately advance to the championship weekend. General public ticket sales could resume once it is known how many tickets the participants will require. "It looks like we are heading for sellouts on both days," said Folkert. "The response has been simply amazing. West Michigan is once again demonstrating its support of college sports and most notably women's basketball." The 63-team field for the championship will be announced next Monday, March 3. The tournament's first and second rounds will be played March 6-8 followed by four sectional tournaments on March 14-15. The four sectional champions will come to Holland the following weekend. Semi-finals games on Friday, March 21 will be played at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday's third place game will tipoff at 3:30 p.m. with the nationally televised (CSTV) game scheduled for 6:05 p.m. The DeVos Fieldhouse ticket office is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telephone orders using a credit card will be accepted by calling 616-395-7136 or 616-395-7890.
Championship Website Unveiled
Hope has also unveiled a giant billboard heralding the upcoming tournament. The billboard is just a block from the DeVos Fieldhouse, site of this year's championship. The Championship committee has also announced a change in the starting times for Saturday's consolation (3:30 p.m. ET) and championship (6 p.m. ET) games. The times were changed to accomodate CSTV which will televise the championship game nationally, according to Kristin M. Steckmesser , Assistant Director of Championships for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Hope College ticket manager Anne Baker has announced that pre-tournament ticket sales have surpassed 2,600 for the two-day tournament. This is an unprecedented pre-tournament sale, according to NCAA officials.
Ticket sales wow NCAA
Early ticket sales for the 2008 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships Hope is hosting and DeVos Fieldhouse's amenities impressed two NCAA officials who visited campus for the first time this week. Division III basketball committee chairwoman Shirley Egner and NCAA Assistant Director of Championships Donnie Wagner look forward to returning in March for the Final Four. "It's a first-class venue," said Egner, also the women's basketball coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. "We're always thinking about the student-athlete, and when they walk through the front doors, it's going to be, 'Wow.'" DeVos to host D-III women's Final FourHOLLAND -- Four months ago the Hope College Flying Dutch brought home the 2006 NCAA Division III National Championship trophy in women's basketball.
The NCAA has selected Hope to host the 2008 and 2009 Division III women's basketball Final Four at DeVos Fieldhouse. "Hope College is extremely delighted to be given the privilege of hosting a national event of this caliber for the NCAA," said Hope Women's Athletic Director Eva Dean Folkert. "They have entrusted a major championship to our care, and we are confident that with the outstanding quality of our new DeVos Fieldhouse, we can deliver an unforgettable experience for those student-athletes who earn the right to come here to play for a national title.
Hope Will Host Women's Basketball National FinalsHOLLAND -- Four months ago the Hope College Flying Dutch brought home the 2006 national championship trophy in women's basketball. The NCAA has selected Hope to host the 2008 and 2009 Division III women's |
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HOLLAND -- Hope College has rolled out the website that will provide information about the NCAA Division III women's basketball championship coming to Holland the weekend of March 21-22. 
HOLLAND -- It didn't take long for DeVos Fieldhouse and Hope College's passion for basketball to impress the NCAA.
Now the Flying Dutch will get an opportunity to bring home the entire tournament.