BEREA, OHIO   – The Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team will be making its 12th trip to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets, 20-6 overall and co-champions during the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season, will be travelling to York, Pennsylvania to play 21-6 overall Lebanon Valley (Pa.) College on Friday, March 7.  Game times have yet to be announced.  You can view the entire bracket at http://static.psbin.com/c/t/4wsc16c05rimk4/2014-wbb-bracket.pdf.

In addition to BW and Lebanon Valley, host York, 25-2 overall, plays LaRoche (Pa.) University, 23-4 overall. in the other first round game. The winners meet in the regional championship/ second round game on Saturday, March 8. The winner of that game advances to the Sectional Round on the weekend of March 14-15.  The Final Four is March 21-22 at Wisconsin Steven's Point.

This is the 12th all-time trip in the 24 years that veteran Head Coach Cheri Harrer has led the team. During her tenure, she has developed the BW program into one of the best in Division III. Harrer enters the NCAA tourney with an outstanding, 486-177 career record with a .733 winning percentage.  

Harrer has led the Yellow Jackets to 12 NCAA apearances, including three "Elite Eight" finishes (2000, 2001 and 2006) and eight OAC regular season and five OAC Tournament titles. Her teams have won 15 or more games for 22 straight years and 13 have won 20 or more contests.

BW scores 78.4 points-per-game and allows 63.2 ppg. for a plus 15.2 ppg. differential. The Yellow Jackets grab 40.8 rebounds-per-game and allow 35.9 for a plus 4.9 rpg. differential. 

Look for Harrer to start freshman Mackenzie Colombo (Strasburg) and junior Shari Mangas (Leipsic) in the backcourt. On the inside, look for seniors Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian), two-time All-OAC standout Jessica Lairson (Louisville) and junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC student-athlete Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) to start.

Smolik tops the team in scoring at 12.2 points-per-game. She also grabs 4.0 rebounds-per-game and has 26 three-pointers to rank fourth.

Lairson is second in scoring at 11.3 ppg. and rebounding with 5.7 rpg. and has 33 assists, 31 treys, 24 steals and 12 blocked shots. She has 1,098 career points to rank ninth all-time in school history and grabbed 510 rebounds to rank 13th.

Mangas, who earned OAC all-tournament team honors last week, is third in scoring at 10.8 ppg., grabs 2.0 rpg. and is second with 42 triples. She also has 39 assists and 17 steals.

Rohrbach is fourth in scoring at 10.6 ppg., grabs a team-leading 7.3 rpg. and shoots 55.9 percent from the floor on 95 of 170 attempts. She enters today's game with 591 career rebounds and is 10th all-time.

Colombo scores 3.3 ppg. and has 52 assists and a team-high 29 steals.

Off the bench, look for sophomores Alissa Munro, Janaya Feaster and Sam Hamar to lead a group of eight reserves who have played in 20 or more contests. Munro is fifth in scoring at 9.8 ppg., grabs 3.0 rpg. and has a team-leading 53 three-pointers. Feaster scores 4.4 ppg. and has a team-leading 65 assists to go with 27 steals. Hamar scores 4.6 ppg., grabs 4.2 rpg. and tops the squad with 31 blocked shots. Others who are expected to see action are sophomore guards Allyson Helleis (Rocky River), She'Kiera Brooks (Stow/ Woodridge), Erin Allen (Girard, Pa./ Girard) and Ally Dehart (Beaver, Pa./ Beaver), freshmen guards Sydney Clark (Parma/ Lake Ridge Academy) and Megan McKean (Jeromesville/ Northwestern) and freshman forward Clara Lemmon (Louisville).

 

FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics..