NCAA Division III Interactive Bracket

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team will face Wisconsin Lutheran in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Division III national championships in a regional that will be played at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1, at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn., and hosted by the University of St. Thomas.

The 8 p.m. Friday game in the regional of the 64-team tournament field will have No. 3-ranked St. Thomas (26-1) hosting Ripon (19-8) with the two winning teams playing on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and students (college, high school and grade school). Children under 5 will be admitted free.

The No. 17-ranked Titans have a record of 23-4 and are making their third straight and 12th overall NCAA Division III tournament appearance. Illinois Wesleyan has an 18-11 national tourney record with the national championship in 2012 and a fourth place finish in 2011. IWU made six consecutive NCAA appearances from 2007-12, including advancing to the round of 16 in 2010 and the round of eight in 2009. Go here for all IWU tournament games.

WISCONSIN LUTHERAN: Wisconsin Lutheran (26-1) is headed to its 10th NCAA tournament in program history after winning the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament championship for the second straight year and for the eighth time in the last nine years.

The Warriors won the NACC tournament title game, 67-47, over Concordia Wisconsin Saturday night, powered by a season-high 30 points from 6-foot senior Jen Dowden, who became the program's all-time leading scorer in the win. The 26 wins for Wisconsin Lutheran is tied for the most wins in a season in program history and WLC has now posted 10 20-win seasons.

Wisconsin Lutheran ranks No. 2 in Division III by outscoring opponents by 24.4 points per game (69.7-45.3) and WLC outrebounds foes by a 37.1-29.9 count. Dowden averages 16.2 points to lead the Warriors while 5-foot-10 junior Kelly Tramburg and 6-foot-1 senior Maddy Elrod average 9.8 and 9.6 respectively. Elrod leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.

ST. THOMAS: Coached by Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas is in the NCAA playoffs for the 26th time, all in the last 36 years, with a 51-25 all-time record. Since their only loss of the year (60-40 to Wartbiurg on Dec. 30), the Tommies have won 16 games in a row and have won 24 straight games at home. St. Thomas squads have won eight consecutive conference playoff crowns and ran their win streak over conference opponents to 74 straight.
The Tommies outscore their foes by 26.2 points per game (75.3-49.1) and are led in scoring by 6-foot-2 senior post player Hannah Spaulding at 17.1 points per game, followed by 5-foot-11 forward Kaia Porter (13.0) and 5-foot-8 senior guard Lucia Renikoff (12.1). Spaulding, who shoots .697 from the field, also leads the team with 9.5 rebounds per game as the Tommies outrebound opponents by 9.3 per game (39.0-29.7).

RIPON: This marks Ripon's fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history and first time in 10 years. The Red Hawks are in the championships as a result of a 55-48 win over Monmouth College in Saturday's Midwest Conference Tournament title game to earn an automatic bid. Ripon has won nine straight games and has won 16 of their last 17 games, as they have lost just once since December 11.
The Red Hawks are led by 6-foot-2 senior center Maggie Oimoen, who averages 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting .556 from the field. As a team, Ripon allows only 52.9 points per game and teams shoot .336 from the field against them.