The SCIAC Tournament champion Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas will fly to Abilene, Texas for the Regionals rounds of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship on the campus of Hardin-Simmons University.
Bracket
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (NPI rank: 63)
Roster |
Schedule |
Statistics
First Round
Friday, Mar. 6 vs. Whitman (NPI rank: 72), 3:30 p.m. |
Live Stats
Abilene, Texas
--Courtesy of CMS Athletics
--
The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team will head to Abilene, Texas for the NCAA Division III Regionals, hosted by Hardin-Simmons, opening up against Whitman in the opening round on Friday.
The Athenas earned the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships by winning the conference tournament over top-seeded Cal Lutheran on Saturday 69-58. The win enabled CMS to earn its first NCAA bid since 2017, which capped a streak of four straight SCIAC titles. CMS lost in double-overtime to Chapman in 2018, and in overtime to Redlands in 2020 in its last two SCIAC title games.
Caleigh Edwards led the way for CMS against Cal Lutheran with 23 points, 11 rebounds and five steals. Edwards also broke a program record for most free throws without a miss by shooting 14-14 at the foul line, eclipsing the previous mark of 13-13 held by
Madeline Barnes and Kate Parrish.
CMS heads to Texas with a 20-7 overall record on the year, which includes a 75-71 overtime defeat to host Hardin-Simmons back on January 16 at Roberts Pavilion.
Tanya Ghai had 28 points in that contest for CMS, hitting a career-high six three-pointers, while Jacqueline Berry had 28 points for the Cowgirls. If the Athenas defeat Whitman, and Hardin-Simmons defeats Austin College in its regional semifinal, a rematch of that contest will take place on Saturday.
Edwards heads to the NCAA Tournament as the team leader in both scoring and rebounding, standing at 13.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
Katie Resendiz, who hit a pair of big three-pointers in the fourth quarter of the championship game after Cal Lutheran cut a 15-point lead down to one, is second on the Athenas in both categories at 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest. Ghai is also in double figures at 12.6 points per game, while
Haylie Wang is nearly in double figures as well at 9.7.
Whitman has the same 20-7 record as CMS on the season, and earned a bid by defeating George Fox 67-51 in the NWC Championship game. The teams have two opponents in common, as the Athenas defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor (74-45) and Whitworth (85-55) at home, while Whitman defeated UMHB 57-53 on the road, and swept Whitworth 74-39 at home, and 47-37 on the road.
Whitman and CMS last played each other in 2021-22 at the UC Santa Cruz Invitational, with the Blues coming away with a 64-50 win.
Follow the SCIAC on Threads (@theSCIAC), X - formerly Twitter (@theSCIAC) and Instagram (@thesciac) with hashtags #SCIACtion and #SoCalSoGood. Watch all home SCIAC games, matches, and meets online through FloSports: https://flosports.link/SCIAC