Rochester Grabs Women's Basketball Tournament Title with strong Fourth Quarter
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - (TOURNAMENT PAGE) - In a reversal of fortune from last year's tournament final, third-seeded Rochester edged out a 69-66 win over top-seeded Indiana Tech to win the 2023 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Women's Basketball Tournament title. Tonight's game was a rematch of the 2022 tournament final where IT won by two in the final seconds.
It's the fourth time a three-seed has won the tournament and the first time since it was done in back-to-back years of 2006-07 (Cornerstone) and 2007-08 (Aquinas).
Indiana Tech, 26-5, receives the league's first automatic berth to the NAIA Opening Round and will host on March 7-8. Rochester, 21-10, receives the league's second automatic berth to the Opening Round.
Tech held a four-point lead at the half, 34-30, and extended it by one by the end of the third for a 54-49 advantage. Genevieve Decker hit a layup 10 seconds into the final period for a seven-point Tech lead before Rochester made its run. Midway through the quarter, Rochester cut the lead to two when RU's Imari Martin scored in the paint to make it 57-55.
Fresh off a double-overtime semifinal game that finished Sunday evening, Rochester took the lead for the first time since midway through the third quarter when Martin hit another layup at the 3:14 mark for a 59-58 score. Indiana Tech retook the lead on a layup by Bethany Worm, only to have Mershimer answer with a three-pointer and Jacara Thompson put back a missed shot to put RU up 64-60 with 23 seconds on the clock.
Decker hit a pair of free throws to close the gap to two with 18 clicks left. After a RU timeout and with one foul to give, IT fouled immediately to force Rochester to inbound the ball again. Another foul by Tech sent Celeste Mershimer to line for a one-and-one where she hit both for a 66-62 RU lead with 15 seconds left.
Erika Foy was fouled on her shot attempt and hit both free throws to pull Indiana Tech to withing two. After another foul send Mershimer to the line, she hit the first but missed the second to put the game at 67-64 Rochester with 11 seconds left. Decker was fouled four seconds later and pulled Indiana Tech to within one (67-66), but Mattos nailed both of her free throws to seal Rochester's first tournament title. The Warriors outscored IT 20-12 in the final period with seven of them coming from the charity stripe.
Thompson led Rochester with 22 points and the senior also added nine rebounds. More importantly she was 7-for-7 from the three-throw line, four of which were in the fourth quarter. Elysia Mattos scored 14 and had four steals as Rochester went to 21-10 on the year.
Kyra Whitaker scored 22 for Indiana Tech while Genevieve Decker added 14 points and Erika Foy finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
All-Time WHAC (seed) Tournament Champions
1992-93: Unknown
1993-94: (2) Spring Arbor
1994-95: (2) Tri-State
1995-96: Unknown
1996-97: Unknown
1997-98: Unknown
1998-99: (1) Spring Arbor
1999-2000: (2) Aquinas
2000-01: (3) Cornerstone
2001-02: (2) Cornerstone
2002-03: (5) Madonna
2003-04: (1) Cornerstone
2004-05: (1) Cornerstone
2005-06: (2) Davenport
2006-07: (3) Cornerstone
2007-08: (3) Aquinas
2008-09: (2) Cornerstone
2009-10: (1) Davenport
2010-11: (1) Davenport
2011-12: (1) Davenport
2012-13: (1) Davenport
2013-14: (1) Davenport
2014-15: (1) Davenport
2015-16: (1) Davenport
2016-17: (1) Davenport
2017-18: (6) Cornerstone
2018-19: (1) Indiana Tech
2019-20: (1) Indiana Tech
2020-21: (2) Indiana Tech
2021-22: (1) Indiana Tech
2022-23: (3) Rochester