PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Imagine the scenario. You’ve been coaching since 1996, starting as a freshman girls’ coach and working your way up. Now in your 20th year as head coach at Wisconsin-Whitewater, your husband is your assistant coach and your daughter is at the line to clinch a spot in the national championship game. There are three seconds left.
“I didn’t watch,” acknowledged UWW head coach Keri Carollo.
“To be honest my mind was completely blank at that point,” said daughter Kacie, Warhawks freshman guard with 11 points and nine rebounds. “It was just muscle memory that I was going to make them because I practice them all the time. Empty mind, shoot it, confidence.”
Carollo would make both to put the Warhawks up four in what would be the final score 55-51 over Amherst at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse at Duquesne University.
“Aleah (Grundahl) actually said to me right before I got to the line, ‘I have all the confidence in the world in you’,” Kacie Carollo said.
“When your daughter is on the free throw line to send you to a national championship game,” said Keri Carollo. “You hope whether it’s your daughter, or it’s not your daughter, you want your players to rise in those moments and revel in those moments.”
“For her to be my daughter it makes it even more crazy and insanely special. She her whole life has never disappointed me so I have all the confidence in the world in her.”
“She did it. She hit back-to-back free throws.”
“It’s an incredible moment in our lives, not only as a basketball team, but as a family that I will never forget.”
Grundahl led all scorers with 18 points. Johanna Taylor had six points and 14 rebounds. Amherst finished the season 25-4, led by Dani Valdez with 14 points. AnLing Vera had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Rivalry Rematch
The fourth meeting of the season as competitive as the other three as the preseason number one Hope College (31-1) advanced to the championship game to face the Warhawks. A similar defensive battle, but a different path to get to a 57-52 final over Trine University (28-4).
The Flying Dutch jumped out to an 8-0 lead, led by 18 in the third quarter only to have Trine tie it with 3:35 to play as senior Kenedy Schoonveld said, ‘we knew they wouldn’t roll over’.
Hope would go on to hold the Thunder scoreless for the rest of the game. It was part of a defensive effort featuring 12 steals, eight blocks, a plus six in rebounding and holding Trine to 32.7% FG and 22% from three.
“We hear what people are saying,” said Hope Head Coach Brian Morehouse. “They were really good, but that 61-game winning streak. If they would have had a national tournament, maybe they wouldn’t have had that 61-game winning streak. We are here. We did it. We validated.”
The Flying Dutch going for a third school national championship Saturday at 2p at Duquesne University as Schoonvelt led them in scoring with 15 points. Senior Sydney Muller with 13. Rachel Stewart led Trine with 16 points and six rebounds.
“It’s going to be the purple and the orange,” Morehouse said of the title matchup. “It’s going to be on, on Saturday. You got two vocal fanbases. It’s going to be an amazing environment.”
“They are showcasing the strength of women’s athletics and why people should want to be in the stands watching women’s basketball.”