SCRANTON, Pa. — Two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams are in the Final Four of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship.
Unfortunately for UW-Whitewater, the Warhawks are not one of them.
UW-Stout sank eight straight free throws in the final 32 seconds as the Blue Devils ended UW-Whitewater’s season with a 62-56 victory in the Sweet 16 round Friday night in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The Blue Devils then defeated host school and No. 3-ranked University of Scranton 81-77 on Saturday night to advance to the Final Four.
UW-Oshkosh, the WIAC regular-season champion, also advanced to the Final Four with a 60-53 victory over Baldwin-Wallace.
The Warhawks finished the season with a 24-7 record.
In the fourth meeting of the two teams this season, the Blue Devils led the Warhawks for much of Friday night’s game but could not pull away. Stout’s biggest lead was seven points, the final time at 50-43 with 6:12 left.
But the Warhawks responded with a 10-2 run to take a 53-52 lead with 3:29 left in regulation on Bri McCurdy’s runner in the lane that just beat the 30-second clock.
The Warhawks did not function well in those final minutes. Whitewater made just one of its final six shots and committed two turnovers including a 30-second shot clock violation with 38 seconds left trailing 54-53.
The Blue Devils closed out their win on the free throw line.
The Warhawks made only one of their first 18 3-point attempts and finished 4 of 26.
Carollo among POY finalists
Kacie Carollo finished her UW-Whitewater career by scoring 23 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and handing out four assists. The senior guard’s 3-pointer with 19 seconds left was the Warhawks only basket in the final 3:29.
Another senior, Katie Hildebrandt finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Another senior, Maggie Trautsch scored 10 points.
Carollo set a school record for points in a season with 1,070. She finishes with 1,828 points, 902 rebounds, 371 assists, 226 steals and 58 blocks.
The four-time All-America guard is one of 10 finalists for the Jostens Trophy awarded to the player of the year.
This season, Carollo set program records in career rebounds, career double-doubles, points in a season, season scoring average and made 3-pointers.
Carollo is the only Warhawk to record at least 1,500 points, 800 rebounds, 300 assists, 200 steals, and 50 blocks in her career.
Oshkosh, Stout could meet in title game
The NCAA Division III championship game could feature two WIAC teams.
The No. 11-ranked Titans play Smith (Virginia) College in one semifinal game Thursday night in Salem, Virginia.
No. 22 UW-Stout plays No. 1-ranked New York University in the other semifinal game Thursday.
