Bears’ Final Four run derailed by Trinity

The No. 3 Bears’ shot at a seventh trip to the Final Four came to an end March 15 when they were upset by No. 21 Trinity University, 76-57, in the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Sectional Championship at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. WUSTL finished the season 26-2. The game marked the first time all season the Bears had trailed at halftime, as they were down 29-28 at the break. Trinity opened the second half by scoring the first eight points and 12 of the first 14, while the Bears managed just one field goal in the first 8:23 of the second half. Trinity’s Tara Rohde scored seven straight points as the lead increased to 50-32 with 10:48 left. Hallie Hutchens led the Bears with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Diana Hill added a career-high 14 points and seven rebounds.

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The baseball team captured a share of its second University Athletic Association title with a 4-2 record at the UAA Tourn-ament March 7-11 in Sanford, Fla., then returned home to sweep five games last week to improve to 9-2. In Florida, Trevor Young-Hyman, Damien Janet and Alex Cucuru each tossed complete-game wins, while Kirk Heischmidt powered WUSTL at the plate by hitting .526 with four doubles. Ryan Argo hit .400 with seven RBIs and Joe Kelly drove in six runs as the Bears captured their first conference crown since 1995. The Bears then pushed their winning streak to six games with wins at Greenville College, 11-3, on March 14, and four straight at home March 15-16. WUSTL defeated Milwaukee School of Engineering, 11-2, and Concordia University (Ill.), 5-2, March 15, then beat the same two teams by 7-0 and 14-13 scores the next day.

The softball team returned home from its 10-day road trip to Florida with an 11-2 record, including a 6-2 record at the UAA Championships. Sophomore Liz Swary led the Bears with a .571 batting average, four home runs and a staggering 27 RBIs. Freshman Amanda Roberts hit .500 on the trip with 15 hits and 10 runs. The pitching was terrific in the 13 games as the staff of Lorri Fehlker, Victoria Ramsey, Ashley Johnson and Liz Smith posted a 1.33 ERA while holding the opponents to a .212 batting average. Ramsey was 5-1 in 38.1 innings with a 1.28 ERA, while Fehlker did not allow an earned run in 18 innings.

The No. 10 women’s tennis team improved to 6-2 and picked up the 400th win in the program’s history with two wins in three outings last week. The Bears rolled past Central College, 9-0, March 12, and Beloit College, also 9-0, March 16 for program win No. 400. Later that day, WUSTL was upended by No. 12 DePauw, 5-4. Jenny Stein collected a pair of wins at No. 1 singles and teamed with Laura Greenberg to add two more wins at third doubles. Greenberg improved to 17-2 on the year and 98-12 overall in her career.

The No. 7 men’s tennis team improved to 4-3 on the year with impressive 7-0 victories over Central College and No. 15 DePauw University.

Junior Kammie Holt earned All-America honors for the second straight season with a third-place finish in the long jump for the indoor track and field team at the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships March 14-16 at DePauw University. That third-place finish earned her six points, good enough to give WUSTL a tie for 13th place in the final team standings.

The women’s swimming team wrapped up its most successful trip ever to the NCAA Championships as the Bears took home 10th place. The finish marked the best in team history and was the third top-20 finish in the past five years. On March 15, the Bears added two more individual All-America honors, bringing their meet total to seven, and another All-America honor in the 400 free relay, WUSTL’s fifth All-American relay in as many chances.