The men’s and women’s basketball teams won their respective conference tournaments Saturday, giving both teams automatic berths to the NCAA Div. III tournament.
The men finished their regular season at 15-9 (9-7 in the WIAC) and were led through the conference tournament by the scoring abilities of sophomore Jason Larson and senior Sherm Carstensen. The two combined for 141 points in the three tournament wins for the Blugolds.
The men came into the WIAC tournament seeded fourth. After the top three seeds fell in the quarterfinals, the Blugolds enjoyed home court advantage the remainder of the tournament.
Coach Terry Gibbons and his team will travel to Chicago to play Benedictine University (20-5) in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday.
This year is the first time the men’s team earned an automatic berth to the national tournament. Last year the ‘Golds received an at-large bid and advanced to the national championship game where they lost to Calvin College (Mich.).
The women finished their regular season at 19-5 (12-4 in the WIAC), giving them a share of the regular season conference championship with UW-Oshkosh. This is the second-straight WIAC tournament championship for the Blugolds. The women came into the WIAC tournament as the top seed and proved they were just that. Senior Jessie Brantner’s game-winning shot Saturday against UW-Platteville completed another remarkable season for the women.
The Blugolds will host Lakeland College in first-round action Wednesday. Lakeland will bring its 24-2 record to Zorn Arena.
The ‘Golds received an automatic berth to the field of 50 teams. This is the 10th consecutive year the Blugolds have qualified for the NCAA tournament but the first under first-year coach Tonja Englund.