Who is Dancing? The NCAA DIII WBB Postseason
This season started with 82 Missouri and Kansas ladies competing in DIII basketball. Despite a lot of great performances, only 15 made it to the field of 64. Today, we prepare for their tournament.
The DIII WBB postseason gets started this Friday with the 32 game first round. You can see the entire bracket here. Division III is seeded quite differently than it is in Division I. There is a top seed designated in each of the four regionals. Outside of that, teams are matched up within their geographical region. That accommodates the smaller athletic budgets of DIII. There are 44 automatic bids that come from the post season tournaments of 44 conferences. There is one at-large bid reserved for the pool of teams from conferences that do not have a postseason tournament. The rest of the field is made up of at-large teams.
Let’s take a look at the 15 ladies who are dancing, and their teams.
Webster University
The Gorlocks earned their way into the tournament by winning their second straight St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. They defeated Westminster MO 87 to 84 in the championship game. Their record is now 24 and 3. Webster will travel to play Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Warhawks, 21 and 6, are in by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
The local connections:
Julie Baudendistel (Lindbergh/Webster Univ.)
Nearing the end of her fourth season, Julie is the 8th Gorlock to score 1,000 career points. She is also the 4th in school history to score 1,000 points and dish out 200 assists. Going into this tournament, she has 1,225 points, 464 rebounds, 201 assists, and 178 steals.
Bethany Lancaster (Buffalo/Webster Univ.)
Bethany averaged 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in her junior year as a Gorlock. Her 60.8% shooting from the field led her team.
Kate Rolfes (Incarnate Word Academy/Webster Univ.)
Kate is a junior who transferred to Webster from Maryville-MO after her freshman year. She scored 11.1 points/game, aided by her 82.9% free throw shooting. Kate tied for the team high with 60 steals.
Jordyn Grimes (Fort Zumwalt North/Webster Univ.)
A junior, Jordyn scored 5.7 points/game. She made 41 assists and got 37 steals in just 398 minutes of playing time.
Trinniti Matthews (Francis Howell Central/Webster Univ.)
In her first collegiate season, Trinniti played in all 27 games, averaging almost 10 minutes per contest. Her 59.3% shooting from the field helped her average 6.0 points/game. Active on the defensive end, her 46 steals were 3rd on the team.
Grace Hupp (Kirkwood/Webster Univ.)
The freshman saw action in 15 games this season, scoring 26 points and getting 11 rebounds.
Emily Kuntze (Oakville/Webster Univ.)
After transferring from Missouri Southern, Emily started one of the 24 games in which she played. For the season, she scored 34 points, made 25 assists, and got 13 steals.
Brianna Beamer (Community/Webster Univ.)
The sophomore played in 7 games this year. She got 15 rebounds to go with her 6 assists.
Washington University-St. Louis
The Bears received an at-large bid after finishing 17 and 8 this season. They will open against the Trine Thunder, an at-large team from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Jessica Brooks (MICDS/Washington Univ.-St. Louis)
Jessica started all 25 games this season and was the second high scorer with 15.6 points/game. The former Ram led her team with 85 assists and 44 steals.
Ingrid Keane (John Burroughs/Washington Univ.-St. Louis)
The senior logged 4 minutes in two appearances, garnering 2 rebounds.
Katie Minkler (Ladue Horton Watkins/Washington Univ.-St. Louis)
The junior did not see action on the court this year.
Millikin University
The 23 and 4 Big Blue enters the NCAA tournament as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament champion. Millikin is ranked 15th in the country and will open against Emory University.
The local connections:
Hannah Ermeling (Francis Howell North/Millikin Univ.)
The freshman saw action in 8 games in her first season, averaging 1.9 points/game and 1.0 rebounds/game.
Gabbi Thomason (Francis Howell Central/Millikin Univ.)
Gabbi played in 11 games this year. The junior got 4 assists and 2 steals.
New York University
The Violets enter the tournament in a strong position. At 22 and 2, they are ranked 7th in the country. They received the one at-large bid reserved for the conferences that do not have a tournament. NYU will face 26 and 2 Greensboro, the champion of the USA South Conference.
The local connection:
Natalie Bruns (Kirkwood/New York Univ.)
A complete player, Natalie leads her team with 14.8 points/game. She is shooting 49.8% from the field and 71.2% from the line. She also leads the Violets with 8.2 rebounds/game and with 69 blocks. She is completing just her second collegiate year because NYU did not play during the Covid year. Her career numbers going into the tournament are 621 points, 400 rebounds, 114 assists, 72 steals, and 128 blocked shots.
Knox College
It is an exciting time for the Prairie Fire as this is the first NCAA tournament is school history. Knox arrives at the tournament as the Midwest Conference champion after defeating Ripon College 64 to 61 in the conference championship game. They will play 23 and 4 Loras, the champion of the American Rivers Conference.
The local connection:
Kristin Herndon (North Nodaway/Knox College)
The senior not only leads the Prairie Fire with 13.2 points/game and 8.6 rebounds/game, her 60 blocks are tops on her team.
It’s tournament time! A great part of the year. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss this and other great content. Hint…….baseball is about to start.