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RIPON, Wis. – The league’s top four teams will fight for a spot in the NCAA Tournament starting on Friday afternoon at the 2013 Midwest Conference (MWC) Women’s Basketball Tournament. Cornell serves as host to the tournament after a near perfect 17-1 mark in conference play during the regular season and aims to win the MWC Tournament in its first season back in the league.

The Rams will host Carroll at 5:00 p.m. at the Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sport Center while second seeded Monmouth squares off against third seeded St. Norbert at 7:00 p.m.

Cornell serves as host for the 2013 MWC Tournament in just its first year back in the MWC since 1997 and plays for a tournament championship for the first time in school history. The Rams have only one blemish on their record and are ranked #14 in the WBCA and #15 in the D3hoops.com poll. They enter the tournament on a seven-game winning streak and hold a perfect 13-0 mark at home. Cornell holds the league’s top mark in scoring margin (+19.9), field goal percentage (47%), field goal percentage defense (33%), rebounding margin (+12.2), and assists (17.7). Camille Marie is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.5 points per game (seventh in MWC) and shoots nearly 54.0% from the field. Rikki Mulloy (13.3 ppg) and Taylor Dicus (12.4 ppg) also score in double figures, while Dicus is fifth in the league in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and leads the league shooting better than 63.0% from the field. Kellie Kuzmanic has the second-most assists in the league (91) and also contributes 7.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Monmouth won its first tournament title in school history as a two seed last season and look for a repeat performance this year. The Fighting Scots finished second in the league in scoring offense with nearly 76 points per game including ten games where they scored 80 points or more highlighted by a 107 point outing in a win over Knox on December 16. Monmouth features three players who average double figures with a strong frontcourt duo of Zipporah Williams and Marla Willard. Both nearly averaged a double-double during the regular season with Williams leading the team in scoring (13.1ppg) while added 8.9 rebounds per game with Willard leading the team in rebounding (9.7 rpg) and chipping in 12.9 points per game. Paige Nord is third on the team in scoring (11 ppg) shooting nearly 42% from behind the arc and dishing out 46 assists with teammate Kaley Coraban averaging 9.7 points per game and is the team’s best free throw shooter (77%).

St. Norbert enters the tournament as the third seed which breaks its streak of three straight MWC Championships and they play for a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four years. The Green Knights possess one of the stingiest defenses in the league giving up just over 50 points a game and using that to boast the third-best scoring margin amongst conference teams (+6.7). Krista Hawkinson leads the team in scoring as she averaged 11.2 points per game during the regular season and also shot 76% from the free throw line and grabbed 45 steals, both to lead the team. Tasha Giese leads the team in rebounding (7.0 rpg) while averaging 9.5 points per game and ranking fourth in the MWC in field goal percentage (54%). Megan Doody runs the offense averaging 3.1 assists per game (four in MWC) while averaging 7.4 points per game and having 31 steals on the season.

Carroll earned a spot in the MWC Tournament for the third straight season and look to become the first ever fourth seed to win the tournament and earn a spot to the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers are riding a four game winning streak entering the tournament which includes wins over St. Norbert and Monmouth and are outscoring opponents by nearly five points per game with the team allowing less than 60 points per contest. Emily DeNoyer tops the team averaging 12 points per game while also grabbing 4.9 rebounds per game. DeNoyer also hit 90% of her free throws for a Pioneers team that finished third in the league at the charity stripe (70%). Hilary Arthur is the only other player to average double figure points (10.6 ppg) and also averages 4.3 rebounds per game. Kelly Menden leads the charge on the defensive end with a team-best 58 steals and averages 9.0 points per game.

To watch a live broadcast of the tournament and to follow the live results please visit the 2013 MWC Women’s Basketball Tournament page. You can also buy championship gear at the MWC Appearal website which also includes general MWC memorabilia and apparel.