Mount Union women set for sectional

Staff report

Alliance

Sixth-ranked Mount Union plays No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan in the sectional round (round of 16) of the NCAA Division III women’s tournament Friday at 7 p.m. at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

It will be the second of two games at the site as No. 22 Centre (Ky.) plays Carthage (Wis.) in a game that will tip-off at 5 pm.

Mount Union won its third straight Ohio Athletic Conference tournament championship and knocked off LaRoche (Pa.) 73-63 in the opening round then rallied from a double-digit second half deficit to knock off No. 25 Muhlenberg, 61-55 in the second round.

Illinois Wesleyan won its fifth-straight College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship and blew out both Maryville (Tenn.) 84-42 and No. 23 Thomas More (Ky.) 87-50 in the first two rounds.

The OAC and CCIW are two of 43 conferences that receive automatic bids into the tournament. There were also 20 national al-large bids and a final spot reserved for teams not in one of the automatic bid conferences to make up the 64-team field.

The Purple Raiders are making their third straight and sixth tournament appearance. Mount Union has a 16-5 record in tournament games, making it to the round of 16 in 1995 and 2010, losing in the national championship game in 1996 and finishing third in the nation in 1998.

The Titans (13-9) are in the “Sweet 16” for a fourth straight year and are making their ninth overall and sixth straight tournament appearance. A year ago, they finished fourth in the nation and hosted of the national semifinals and finals.

This will be the first meeting between the schools in women’s basketball. The two schools have met in the Division III football playoffs with the Raiders scoring wins in 1992 (49-27) and 1996 (49-14).

Mount Union (28-1) is on a school-record 23-game winning streak and has won 25 straight at home dating back to an 84-82 loss to John Carroll in Dec. 2010.

Junior point guard Rosa LaMattina and senior guard Kori Wiedt shared OAC Player of the Year honors and are a 1-2 punch on the perimeter for the Raiders.

LaMattina leads the team and is fifth in the OAC in scoring at 15.2 points per game, while leading the OAC in steals (3.3 per game) and third in assists (4.1 per game).

Wiedt is sixth in the OAC in scoring at 14.5 points per game and fifth in the nation in three-point shooting (.468).

Taking care of things inside is All-OAC second team senior forward Amanda Rose, who averages 11.5 points per game and leads the team in rebounds at 5.3 per game.

They have all eclipsed 1,000 career points this season marking the first time in school history that three active 1,000-point scorers have played together. On the school’s all-time list, Wiedt is fifth with 1,258 points, LaMattina is ninth with 1,150 points while Rose is 11th with 1,100 points. They bring the total to 13 players in Mount Union history with over 1,000 points.