NCAC Tournament Preview: Women's Basketball

This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster women's basketball team travels to Greencastle, Ind. as the eighth-seeded Fighting Scots (4-21, 3-13 NCAC) will take on the conference regular season champions and No. 1 seed DePauw University (22-2, 15-0) in the first round of the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. Tuesday's tipoff is at 6 p.m. 

Media Coverage: Fans can follow Wooster's journey in the NCAC Tournament through the available live stream and live stats webpages provided by DePauw. Fans can also follow the women's basketball team's Twitter account @WoosterWBB for periodic score updates.

Finale Recap: Wooster saw the second-best team in the conference in its season finale on Saturday and took an 80-63 loss to Oberlin College. Jenna Stanton closed her regular season on a high note with a career-high 24-point performance. The senior went 8-of-13 from the floor, 4-of-9 from 3-point range and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the foul line. Wooster has been prone to giving up game-changing runs and on Saturday saw the Yeowomen open with a 6-0 lead. However, Wooster scored the next seven to take the lead, but Oberlin would then score the next 10 points. Wooster got as close to a four point deficit in the second quarter but could not get closer. 

Season Series: DePauw took both matchups against the Scots this season. They won 87-47 early in December and again in Greencastle in January 88-31. Wooster can claim in its first meeting they beat the Tigers in the second quarter 12-11. Stanton led the Scots with 10 points and nine rebounds in the first game. Sophomore Harley Holloway led the Scots with 10 points in the second game, including a 6-of-6 mark at the foul line.

Who the Tigers are: DePauw has consistently been nationally ranked for years, and with a record of 22-2 and an undefeated streak in the NCAC, the Tigers sit 12th in the d3hoops.com rankings. Senior Mya Shannon is third in the conference averaging 15 points per game. The Tigers also have the conference's top ranked offense at 72.3 points per game and best defense allowing 48.3 points per game. They shoot a conference best 35 percent from 3-point range and their 46 rebounds per game is also the top mark in the NCAC. They enter with an 11-game winning streak, all of which have been won by double digits.

Full Strength: Injuries and covid protocols have kept the Scots from playing at full capacity for a majority of the second half of the season. Some games the Scots were limited to just eight or nine total players. However, the Scots in the last two games have gotten some key players back and have had a bench strength of 6 or more players. That turned its second matchup against Oberlin last week from a 32-point deficit to a 17-point loss. Its bench outscored Ohio Wesleyan's 31-12 last week in a 76-63 loss.

Historically Speaking: This is Wooster's first appearance in the NCAC Tournament since 2018 when they entered as the seventh seed and took a first round loss to Kenyon College. DePauw leads the series 21-1 in which the team's first met back in the 1983-84 season. DePauw has won the last two conference tournament titles.

Leading Wooster: Holloway leads the squad at 12.9 points per game. Fellow guard Masani Francis follows at 9.7 ppg and leads the team at 1.6 assists per game. Stanton comes in at 8.1 points per game. Sophomore Alyssa Chritz leads the team at 7.5 rebounds per game.