MILWAUKEE -- The 2008 Alverno College Tip-Off Tournament includes four NCAA Division III teams from the Midwest: host Alverno College, The College of St. Catherine, University of Dubuque and UW-Superior.
In the tournament opener (Friday, 6pm) two West Region teams square off as St. Kate's from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference takes on Dubuque from the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The two teams have not played each other in recent history.
Though this will be both teams' official opening-season game, Dubuque got in a warm-up as they played Division I UW-Milwaukee in an exhibition game on Nov. 9. The Spartans (14-13 last season) were within a bucket with three minutes to go, before UWM captured the exhibition victory 82-70 in Milwaukee. Newcomer Krystal Parr led the Spartans' offense with a 14 point performance as she sank four 3-point attempts. Returning starter Briana Nelson ended with 12 points, three steals and three assists.
The Wildcats of St. Kate's are coming off a 10-15 season in 2007-08, and a trip to the MIAC playoffs. Brooke Hakanson led the Wildcats last season and earned MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention honors. The senior forward led the team with 6.3 rebounds per game, was second on the team in scoring with 12.6 points per game, and was fourth in the conference with 62 steals.
In game two of the opening round (Friday, 8pm) two Central Region teams match up as Alverno of the Northern Athletics Conference hosts Superior from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. This will be the teams' first-ever meeting.
Superior has two wins under their belt so far this season having knocked off College of St. Scholastica, 65-57, on Saturday, Nov. 15 and Bethany Lutheran College, 83-59, this past Wednesday, Nov. 19. Sophomore forward Anna Peterson has led the team in scoring with 12.5 a game in addition to averaging four rebounds and two assists per game. Fellow sophomore Kelsey Thingvold is also averaging in double-figures with 10.0 points per game as well as three rebounds a contest. The Yellowjackets finished last season with a 5-20 record.
Alverno looks to improve on their 5-20 mark from last season, as they return all five starters from last year's squad. Junior forward Lisa Sorgi (Greenfield, Wis.), an All-NAC Honorable Mention selection, led the team in scoring last season at 14.0 a game. She also averaged 4.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.5 steals per contest. Senior forward Bre Miller (Racine, Wis.), who is just 24 points away from becoming the school's all-time leading scorer, chipped in 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game last year. Also returning are leading rebounder (6.9 rpg) and passer (2.8 apg) Joslyn Binkowski (Greenfield, Wis.), sophomore Gabby Allen (Milwaukee, Wis.) (9.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.2 apg) and senior Katie Salentine (Muskego, Wis.) (4.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg).
The losing teams from Friday's game will play at 2pm on Saturday for the consolation game, while the winning teams tip-off at approximately 4pm for the championship game.
Tournament Schedule -- All games played at Reiman Gymnasium, Milwaukee, Wis. Friday, Nov. 21 Game #1 - 6:00pm - College of St. Catherine vs. University of Dubuque
Game #2 - 8:00pm - UW-Superior vs. Alverno College
Saturday, Nov. 22
Game #3 - 2:00pm - Consolation Game
Game #4 - 4:00pm - Championship Game
Live Stats will be available for all games: http://www.alverno.edu/athletics/livestats.html
Alverno games will be broadcast on AIFR (Alverno Inferno Free Radio): http://aifr.alverno.edu/
