NCAA First & Second Rounds
St. Paul, Minn. (Shoenecker Arena)
Chapman at No. 6 St. Thomas
Friday, March 2, 6 p.m. (PST)
Live Stats | Video | Tickets: $7 for adults, $4 for students

• Chapman is making its 13th appearance in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship and ninth under head coach Carol Jue. This the Panthers first trip to the big dance since 2014.
• Chapman won it's first-ever SCIAC Tournament title with a thrilling double overtime 70-61 victory at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Chapman has made the conference tournament in all of its six years in the SCIAC and made its fourth championship game appearance this year.

THE COMPETITION

• Chapman drew No. 6 St. Thomas in the first round of the tournament, who went 25-2 with a perfect run through the MIAC. The Tommies are riding an 18-game win streak and are led by MIAC Player of the Year Hannah Spaulding. Spaulding leads all of the NCAA in hitting 71.4 percent of her shots while averaging 19.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
• Spaulding was selected as the MIAC Player of the Year but sat out the conference tournament with an injury. Junior Lucia Renikoff and senior Lauren Fisher joined Spaulding on the All-MIAC team.
• On the other side of the bracket, Wisconsin Lutheran will take on No. 9 Chicago. WLC went 24-3 and won the NACC while Chicago was 23-2 and put up a perfect record in the UAA. The four-team pod of four conference champions features just 11 total losses, three conference Players of the Year and three conference Coaches of the Year.
• Junior Jen Dowden leads the Warriors and was voted the NACC Player of the Year. She averages 17.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The Panthers met WLC last year at the Hoops in Hawaii Classic with Chapman winning 69-57. Senior Kaitlin Knueppel was also named to the All-NACC First Team while Clay Kneppuel was chosen as the Coach of the Year. The Warriors are one of the best teams in the country at taking care of the ball as they rank fourth with just 12.5 turnovers per game. They also rank seventh in allowing just less than 48 points per game and have won by an average margin of over 20 points.
• The Maroons had three players selected to the All-UAA Team after an undefeated conference season, led by junior Olariche Obe and sophomore Mia Ferrell on the First Team. Chicago ranks 12th in the country with 78.2 points per game and forces 22.56 turnovers per game to rank 33rd.

CHAPMAN NOTES

• Sophomore Lucy Criswell was the SCIAC Athlete of the Year for Chapman after averaging 17 points and 7.1 rebounds per game during the conference season. Since jumping into the starting lineup on Jan. 3, Criswell is averaging 18 points and nearly seven rebounds per contest.
• Senior Jaime Hum-Nishikado leads the Panthers from long range. She holds the school record for made three-pointers in a career with 261, which also ranks as the fourth-most among active Division III players. She also broke her own single season school record with 78 threes this season.
• Both Criswell and Hum-Nishikado rank in the top-100 in three-point field goal percentage. Criswell ranks 20th in Division III while sinking 42.6 percent of her three-point tries.
• The Panthers also rank 18th in the nation with 17.9 assists per game and rank 28th with 23.07 turnovers forced per contest.
• Junior Jaryn Fajardo and sophomore Paige Endo both distributed over 100 assists this season with Fajardo averaging 4.7 per game and Endo averaging just under four per game. Fajardo also ranks seventh in the nation with a 2.49 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• The Panthers take a nearly pristine road record with them to St. Paul. Chapman was 12-1 away from the Hutton Sports Center this year with its only road loss coming in the regular season finale at CMS.

MATCHUP NOTES

• While the Panthers are one of the best in the nation at forcing turnovers, St. Thomas is one of the best at taking care of the ball. They average just 14 turnovers per game and shoot 46.8 percent as a team.
• The Panthers and Tommies both rank in the top-15 in the nation in three-point shooting. At 36.7 percent, the Panthers rank 14th in Division III. St. Thomas drains 38.3 percent of its three-point attempts, which ranks fifth in the nation.
• The Tommies have two six-footers in the starting lineup while Chapman has no players over six-feet. Despite an almost nightly height disadvantage, Chapman pulls down 16 offensive rebounds per game. St. Thomas pulls down 36 rebounds per game but averages a nearly six rebound advantage per game.
• With the 6-2 Spaulding defending the rim, the Tommies rank in the top-50 in the country in blocked shots.
• Chapman is squaring off with St. THomas for the third time in program history although the pair haven't met since 2009. The Panthers took the first matchup, 62-60, in 2006 while the Tommies won 80-75 in 2009 despite Chapman forcing 41 turnovers.