National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 3, 1997

Division III

Unbeaten Defiance hopes fourth time is the charm at this year's tourney

Event: 1997 Division III Women's Basketball Championship.

Overview: Defiance hopes to make its first trip to the championship final in four tries. The Yellow Jackets lost to Mount Union in the Atlantic sectional final in 1996 but have yet to lose in 22 regular-season games. Third-year coach Tom Palombo returns center Stephanie Nafziger from last year's squad. The 6-1 junior averages 13.5 points and 8.1 rebounds a contest. She is in the top five in the nation in field-goal and free-throw percentage. Point guard Emili McClure averages 12.3 points and 4.6 assists per game. McClure recently scored her 1,000th point as a Yellow Jacket. Defiance scores 86.7 points per game while holding its opponents to 60 points on 35-percent shooting from the field. The Yellow Jackets' region includes Capital and Alma, winners of three of the last five national championships. "The Great Lakes region has got to be the toughest," Palombo said. "Any thinking beyond the sectional is crazy. It will be a battle just to get out of the region" ... Defending champion Wisconsin-Oshkosh had conference foe Wisconsin-Eau Claire's number last year, defeating the Blugolds in the sectional final. This season, however, Eau Claire has had the upper hand, dealing Wisconsin-Oshkosh its only two losses. The Blugolds, in turn, are 19-2 through 21 games, losing to another conference foe, Wisconsin-Stout, in overtime and earlier to Capital. In between those two losses, Wisconsin-Eau Claire reeled off a school-record 14 consecutive wins. Junior Erika Schmidt leads the Blugolds with 16.2 points and 9.8 rebounds a game ... Meanwhile, in Oshkosh, Pam Ruder is in her first year as head coach after serving as an assistant to Kathi Bennett for several years. The Titans have been a hot team in the 1990s, with a 175-34 record since 1990. One starter returns from last year's squad. Sophomore forward Kelly Warnke is one of four players in double figures for Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Junior guard Holly Spoo leads the team with 14.0 points per game. The Titans' loss at home to Wisconsin-Eau Claire ended a 41-game winning streak -- the second-longest streak in Division III women's history.

Field: Sixty-four teams -- eight from each of the eight regions. Twenty-nine conferences have automatic-qualification privileges. The remaining teams will be selected at large.

Dates and sites: First- and second-round competition will be March 5 and 8 at on-campus sites. Sectional competition will be March 14-15 on the campuses of competing schools. The semifinals, third-place game and final will be March 21-22 on the campus of one of the competing teams.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1273 for the bracket/schedule, 5068 for semifinal box scores, 5069 for the third-place game box score and 5070 for championship-game results. Game scores and pairings also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. First-and second-round scores will appear in the March 17 issue of The NCAA News. Sectional results will be published March 24. Results from the semifinal, third-place and championship games will be in the March 31 issue of the News.

Championship note: Defiance, last year's Division III attendance champion, is averaging slightly more than 1,000 fans per game at home this season.