FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The top-seeded Indiana Tech women’s basketball program won its first-ever Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Monday before a hometown crowd.
The No. 7 Lady Warriors (30-3) led wire-to-wire, knocking off the 2-seed, No. 23 Aquinas (25-8), 57-41, in the finals at the Schaefer Center.
“We wanted it bad,” sophomore guard Alexis Hill tells ParkviewSportsMedicine.com. “We’ve had shirts that say ‘Cut The Nets’ since the beginning of the season.”
Tech jumped out to a 7-0 lead, staved off poor shooting and an Aquinas comeback in the 3rd quarter and scored the game’s final 11 points to secure the victory. Senior forward Kendall Knapke scored a team-high 12 points and 6 rebounds. Junior guard Rachel Bell netted 11 points.
“We got stops when we needed them,” Knapke, a Heritage High School grad, says. “I think more than anything, it was getting stops on the defense. That led to our momentum on the offensive end.”
The tourney title accompanies repeat regular season league championships, and avenges the disappointment of losing in the tourney final at home a year ago. Tech finished 18-0 at Schaefer Center this season.
“We didn’t get to do this last year,” head coach Jessie Biggs says. “Winning the regular season is one thing, but you want to cut the nets down and win the conference championship in the tournament.” Biggs was named WHAC Coach of the Year for a third-straight time last week.
The WHAC Tournament title is another milestone in a historic season for Indiana Tech women’s basketball. The Lady Warriors won a school record 21-straight games earlier this year en route to consecutive 30-win seasons. In January, they climbed to No. 3 in the NAIA Division II polls. Back-to-back losses in January—one to Aquinas—were minor setbacks for a team with high hopes heading into the NAIA Division II National Tournament, which starts Mar. 6.
“We’re living the dream right now,” junior guard Rachel Bell beams. “We learned from last year to not think about the game; just play it and have fun with it. That’s when we play our best basketball.
Indiana Tech will learn of its opening round destination and opponent on Wednesday.
Indiana Tech is one of five universities schools that partners with Parkview Sports Medicine for athletic training, nutrition, athletic rehabilitation and orthopedic services for Warrior student-athletes. Learn more at ParkviewSportsMedicine.com.