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Making History One Round At A Time
Let's Make History. This wasn't one of the goals that the Coe College Women's Basketball team set this year. Make the NCAA Tournament and win, now that was definitely on their mind. The good thing for them is that they did both.
The KoHawks Women's Basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Women's Division III NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history after 2 victories in the tournament's opening rounds this past weekend.
“As a team, preseason we set the goal to get to the NCAA tournament and win, and we have accomplished every goal we set this year, and us seniors have been talking about this for 4 years.” said senior Sarah Anciaux. Anyone watching the KoHawks this year knows they have been on a mission and Anciaux has been one of the reasons why.
Coe started tournament play last Friday night by beating upset minded Minnesota-Morris, 78-53. Anciaux had a team high 15 points to go along with seven rebounds. With 12:25 left in the first half and the lead at 15-9, Coe went on a 20-0 run over the next 5 minutes and also had another 18-3 run in the second half that sealed their victory.
Apparently runs like this are contagious. “We all feed off of everyone's energy, once someone hits a shot we just keep going and going.” said Sophomore Kalais Kuhlmann.
The same was true for the second round game vs. Howard Payne. Coe was down early 9-3, but had a 12-5 run to lead 15-14. Then, Howard Payne had a 16-3 run of their own to lead 30-18. With the wake up call, the KoHawks ignited for a 19-5 run led by two juniors, Leslie Ware and Kayla Waskow.
The run was over the final 7:33 of the first half and helped Coe regain the lead 37-35. In the second half Coe took off on a 22-2 run over an 8 minute span. The final 3:52 of the game, Coe slammed the door shut with a 15-5 run. Senior Kayla Lincoln led the KoHawks with 21 points, six rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals.
The win brought the KoHawks season record to 26-3. The team record this year is the best record by a Coe team in history, any team, even men. The previous record was held by the 1972-1973 men's team which was 24-1.
On top of the team records being broken, individual players have also gotten into the mix. Senior Kayla Lincoln broke Coe's single season blocks record with 51 and she became the fourth player in Coe history to surpass 1,100 career points. Senior Kaitlin Breitbach is 3rd on the all-time assists list with 359 and Senior Sarah Anciaux is 5th on the school's all-time 3 pointers list and second on the all-time scoring list with 1.140 points.
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“If anybody knew the hours we put in outside of our season they would know why we're here, we started practicing the week after the season was over last year and we're still going.” said senior Kaitlin Breitbach. Along with the work ethic, Coe has also had support from quite a few different faces this year.
Iowa Women's Head Coach Lisa Bluder and Assistant Coach Jan Jensen attended last Saturday's game. Head Coach Randi Peterson and Assistant Head Coach Wendy Ausdemore were former Hawkeyes under Bluder. The KoHawks also received national love as former Coe football star and current Buffalo Bills Running Back Fred Jackson tweeted on Tuesday, “I am proud of Em!! Especially the Breitbach girls! Keep reppin Kohawk Nation to the Fullest!
With all of the attention they are receiving, the players wanted to thank a certain group of people directly. “We have the best student section in the country, “The Nuthouse.” They are the best, we know that some are coming to Sevens Point to cheer us on, a major shoutout to them for what they do.”
The KoHawks continue on as they play this Friday night in Stevens Point, WI against Illinois Wesleyan(25-4) at 5 P.M. The host UW-Steven's Point Pointers (27-2) will face George Fox University (24-5) in Friday's nightcap.
Friday's winners will meet for the sectional championship at 7 p.m. Saturday for a spot in the championship finals.
Joseph Larsen
Community Contributor
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