Waverly, Iowa -- The Wartburg Knights won a record setting fourth consecutive American Rivers Conference women's basketball tournament with a 67-54 win over The Loras Duhawks.
The four-time defending conference champions thus earned the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship that begins next weekend. Loras, with a strong NCAA at-large resume, hopes to get good news when the full field is announced Monday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on NCAA.com. Going into todays' championship game, Wartburg ranked first in the West Region while Loras was ranked third.
The Knights had three players in double digit figures, led by
Kaitlyn Volesky with 15 points.
Tori Hazard and
Payton Draper each added 13.
Amanda Brainerd grabbed six rebounds to lead the Knights while Draper added five.
As a team, Wartburg shot 41.7% (20-of-48) from the field, 33.3% (7-of-21) from three point and 66.7% (20-of-30) from the free throw line.
Marissa Shroeder recorded a double double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Duhawks.
Kari Fitzpatrick also reach double digits with 15 points. Both were a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line.
The Duahwks finished 17-of-54 (31.5%) from the field, 5-of-25 (20%) from three point, and 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the charity stripe.
The Knights, now 24-3 overall, will make their fifth-straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Last year, Wartburg made it all the way to the Division III Elite Eight before bowing out. The Knights also advanced to the Final Four in 2018 and 2016. This year's trip to the Big Dance will mark the 14th time in program history.
Loras, now 23-4 on the season, was playing in its fourth conference championship game in the last seven seasons. A season ago the Duhawks earned the program's first at-large selection to the NCAA tournament. The selection sent Loras to the tournament field for the third time in program history.
