Women's Basketball's 12th NCAA Tourney Trip Begins With No. 7 Wartburg

MILWAUKEE (WLCSports.com) - Wisconsin Lutheran College will make its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance when it travels to Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa for the 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Warriors (23-4) will square off against the regional host and seventh-ranked Knights (25-2) on Friday, March 1 at 7:45 p.m. at Levick Arena. (RV) Concordia Moorhead (20-5) will face No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan (22-5) in the other first round matchup at 5:15 p.m. The winners of the two first round games will meet in the second round on Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the games are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, students, and youth.

The Warriors enter their 12th NCAA Tournament and first since 2022 on an 18-game winning streak, their longest since rattling off 20 straight victories two years ago. WLC defeated Rockford (48-42), Aurora (63-51), and St. Norbert (66-42) to win its 12th NACC Tournament title and earn the conference's automatic berth into the 64-team field. Wisconsin Lutheran, which clinched its 12th 20-plus win season in program history, averages 65.5 points per game - second amongst NACC schools - while leading the league in both scoring defense (47.9 ppg), scoring margin (+17.6), and turnover margin (+4.74). The Warriors also rank second in the NACC in field goal percentage (42.4), rebounding margin (+7.5), and three-point percentage defense (26.6), and third in total scoring (1,768), and blocks per game (2.9).

Nationally, WLC ranks second in NCAA Division III in fewest turnovers per game (11.7), eighth in scoring defense, and ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.28).

Senior Sam Leisemann (Fall River, Wis.), the NACC Player of the Year and four-time All-NACC selection, averages 16.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. She currently leads the NACC in total points (436), field goals (170), free throws (93), free throw attempts (139), and field goal percentage (61.6). Leisemann also ranks third in NCAA Division III in field goal percentage. First Team All-NACC freshman forward Margie Stevens (Oneida, Wis.) averages 11.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while senior Meggie Scott (Yorkville, Ill.), a Second Team All-NACC honoree, averages 7.3 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game. She ranks sixth nationally and leads the NACC with a 3.0 assist/turnover ratio.

Seven-time NACC Coach of the Year Klay Knueppel is in his 20th season as Wisconsin Lutheran head coach. He enters Friday's contest with an overall collegiate coaching record of 398-136. Knueppel, the third head coach in program history, spent 12 seasons (1992-2004) as an assistant with the Warriors before being named head coach in 2004. Knueppel has guided WLC to 12 conference championships and 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. He entered the season 19th among winningest active coaches in Division III with a .740 winning percentage.

WLC is making its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and is 3-11 all-time on the national stage. Wisconsin Lutheran won its first NCAA Tournament game in 2011, a 73-59 triumph over (RV) UW-La Crosse in the first round in Bloomington, Illinois. The Warriors posted their biggest NCAA Tournament win in 2015 with a 70-67 overtime upset win at No. 10 Wheaton. WLC also knocked off No. 17 Illinois Wesleyan 48-40 in a first round game on March 1, 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Friday's NCAA Tournament First Round matchup marks the fourth all-time meeting between Wisconsin Lutheran and Wartburg, with the Knights leading the brief series 3-0. The two teams last met on March 4, 2016 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Oshkosh, with  Wartburg coming away with a 65-49 victory. This is the first matchup between the two teams in Waverly, Iowa. 

The Knights, ranked seventh by D3hoops.com, won the American Rivers Conference regular season and tournament titles after finishing 25-2 overall and 16-0 in conference play. Wartburg is making its eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and hosting for the first time since 2019. The Knights lead the A-R-C in 12 major statistical categories, including 12th in three-pointers made per game (8.7). Senior forward Jaedon Murphy, the A-R-C MVP, leads Wartburg averaging 15.1 points per game while shooting 46.4 percent from the field. She also averages 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 assists per game. First Team All-A-R-C senior guard Sara Faber averages 11.1 points per game. Eighteenth-year head coach Bob Amsberry, who has been named National Coach of the Year four times, is 357-131 at the helm of the Knights. Prior to Wartburg, he was the head coach at Rockford for nine seasons.