Johanna Taylor and her Warhawks teammates have battled, often from behind, to advance in this tournament. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

By Joe Sager
D3sports.com

For the UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team, the plan going into Thursday’s national semifinal against Amherst is simple: get a lead and maintain it.

The Warhawks (27-4) are tired of playing catchup.

They had to rally in their last two games, a 78-76 overtime win over Smith and a 68-62 decision over UW-Oshkosh.

Plus, it’s historically difficult to play catchup against Amherst’s defense.

• 2022 Division III NCAA Tournament bracket
• Feature: New-look Mammoths coming together
• All-Region team announced
• More NCAA Tournament headlines
• Jostens Trophy finalists announced

“It’d be a little less stressful if we didn’t have to do that. Our parents told us to stop getting their heart rates up,” Whitewater senior center Johanna Taylor said with a laugh. “We didn’t panic, though. We fixed a few things we needed to clean up and came back. We always say that, if we trust ourselves and we’re us to the end, we’ll come out with a win. It was a fun weekend. We are definitely happy with where we are now. We’re overjoyed.”

Against Smith, the Warhawks faced a 76-71 deficit with 1:07 left in overtime. Maggie Trautsch was fouled on a 3-point shot and made all three free throws. Whitewater got a defensive rebound and Trautsch was fouled in the lane and made both free throws to tie the game with eight seconds to play.

A steal and Rebekah Schumacher’s bucket just before the buzzer gave the team the win.

“When we were down, we looked at each other and we said that it’s going to be hard, but we got this. We just buckled in and had to do the hard work,” Taylor said. “We just needed one stop and one rebound and everything else will flow. Maggie hit some clutch free throws and we got that last steal to seal the game.”

In the next game, Whitewater faced a 62-59 deficit with 2:51 to play. Once again, the Warhawks rallied. Taylor’s bucket sparked a 9-0 run to close the game for a 68-62 win over Oshkosh. Freshman Kacie Carollo scored the final seven points in the contest.

“I think we were down the majority of the game. When we started to rally back, it was the same mentality – one stop and one rebound,” Taylor said. “Kacie put us on her back. All of us, we locked in. When we watched the game film, we could see our rotations and communication were great. Being able to win that to go to the Final Four is one of the biggest dreams I’ve have had in my basketball career.”

That Whitewater was able to rally for victories in such crucial situations is a great sign for Keri Carollo, Kacie’s mom and the only female head coach among the four semifinalists in this year remembering the anniversary of Title IX.

Kacie and Keri Carollo share some tears after UW-Whitewater's Elite Eight win against UW-Oshkosh. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

“It really has been a work in progress for us,” she said. “We had some really tough games in our conference. We had a couple overtime wins and some close wins. We’ve been tested all season. I think that really prepared us for these types of moments. It’s great to see those situations from the year benefit us in the tournament.

“They really know who to go to in those situations. It’s not a question of what do we do and who do we give the ball to; it’s more about what we need to do defensively and get stops and who will come up with the big rebound. We’ve been able to learn through this season and all the games we’ve played.”

The team had a stretch of 10 road games early in the season, which may have been tough at the time, but is paying dividends now.

“Our mentality is that we are definitely not giving up. A few times in the year, we’ve been down or gone into overtime and had to have a clutch situation happen and it did. It’s great to see how hard we’ll fight every single possession to come up with a win,” Taylor said. “In those situations, we just make sure that we’re keeping our composure and staying focused on the next task at hand and making sure it’s just one possession at a time and we’re not getting overwhelmed in the moment.”

The Warhawks look forward to playing Amherst (25-3) at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh.

“They are a great program. They have unbelievable tradition. They are very balanced. They have size and athleticism. They have all the pieces,” Keri Carollo said. “At this time of year, you’re not playing teams with any holes. It’ll be a great challenge for our team. It’ll be a very disciplined kind of game and a controlled tempo kind of game and we have to be prepared for that.

“Just from a confidence perspective, the players feel pretty good about themselves. We’re staying healthy and the spirits are high and there is lots of enthusiasm and intensity in the gym. All of those attributes are so key,” she continued. “It comes down to putting the ball in the basket and taking care of what we need to do on the defensive end. We’re prepared and ready to go.”

The team hopes it can add two more wins.

“I am excited. We know Amherst is a pretty balanced team and we’ll have to step up and do our job defensively. It’ll be a tough game, but a fun game. That’s what it’s all about,” Taylor said. “The season has been quite a ride and there’s no better team to do this with. It’s been an amazing year growing with each one of them.”