Indiana Tech Wins Women's Basketball Tournament in Dramatic Fashion

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - (Tournament Page) - Indiana Tech staved off a fourth-quarter comeback to win the 2022 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Women's Basketball Tournament. The Tech Warriors edged Rochester 85-83 for their fourth consecutive tournament title. With Indiana Tech already claiming the league's first automatic berth to the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Opening Round, Rochester now claims the second auto bid as tournament runner-up.

Indiana Tech held a 62-48 advantage heading into the fourth quarter when Rochester caught fire. After a few small runs by RU, Tech pushed its lead to 15 at 75-60 with 6:56 to play. Rochester mounted a 10-0 run and whittled the defict to just five with 4:12 left. Kyra Whitaker hit a three and Taya Andrews made a layup to put IT up by 10 again. After 30 seconds of no scoring, Lauren Wynn layed one it to close the gap to single digits at 80-72, where it stayed until the 1:18 mark when Whitaker sank both free throws for an 82-72 IT advantage.

Elysia Mattos then took over for Rochester as she was fouled on a made shot and hit the free throw with :49 on the clock for a 82-75 score. Eleven seconds later Mattos hit a jumper for three and backed it up with another three for an 82-81 score with 25 seconds remaining.

Whitaker sank both free throws after RU was forced to foul and IT held an 84-81 lead at the 11 second mark. After a Tech turnover, Mattos layed one in to pull Rochester to within one point, but Taya Andrews hit her first free throw with one second tick on the clock to seal the win.

Rochester scored 35 points in the fourth quarter with 19 of them coming from Mattos as the team made 59% of their shots and was 5-for-9 from behind the three point line.

Emma Tuominen led all scorers as she hit 25 for Indiana Tech and played all 40 minutes. Four other Warriors finished in double figures as Tech improved to 30-2.

Mattos and Wynn each had 24 points for Rochester and Wynn capped a double-double with 16 rebounds. RU falls to 23-9 on the year.

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