Monmouth, Ill. - Monmouth College’s Melissa Gorski (right) has netted another post-season basketball honor.

Recently named a top 10 finalist for the prestigious Jostens Trophy given to the nation’s outstanding Division III basketball player, Gorski this week was named to the D3hoops.com All-Central Region third team. The senior guard ended her playing career with 1,273 points, making her the Fighting Scots’ fourth-leading scorer in the women’s program history, and her 312 career assists ranks her third. She was second on the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Gorski compiled a 13.8 career scoring average and a 6.1 rebound average. The Scots completed a 14-9 season, finishing with the second-most wins in school history.

A three-time All-Midwest Conference selection, Gorski was previously named to the ESPN the Magazine All-Academic District V first team. She has also been named to the Monmouth College Dean’s List seven times and is a two-time Midwest Conference All-Academic selection.

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Ripon's Cinderella story came to an end as the team picked to finish seventh in the Midwest Conference Preseason Coaches Poll was downed by host St. Benedict (MN) 55-42 in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs. The Red Hawks end their season with an overall record of 17-9 while the Blazers advance to take on UW-Whitewater in the second round tomorrow.

In a game where it never saw a lead, Ripon battled tough through the first half and tied it 8-8 halfway to the break on a three-pointer by Emily Meyer. Washington would answer back a minute later with a jumper by Ariel Tauer to put the Blazers back ahead for good. A quick basket to start the second period gave Washington a 24-15 advantage, but the Red Hawks stormed back with a 6-0 run capped by Meyer jumper at the 16:39 mark. Ripon would get no closer though as it was hampered by 23 turnovers and only five points off the bench.

The Blazers were led by Amy Stifter's game-high 16 points to go along with Danielle Frank's 13 boards. Meyer was the only Red Hawk that scored in double figures (12) while Erin Lind led the way with 7 rebounds.

Saturday, March 6

at #22 St. Benedict (MN) 55, Ripon 42

The 2009 Midwest Conference Champion Ripon Red Hawks will travel tonight to take on The College of Saint Benedict in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:30 p.m. The game will be webcast via the internet on the Blazers website, while live stats will also be available (links to both below). The winner faces either Simpson or UW-Whitewater at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in Saint Joseph, Minn.

Julie Johnson’s (right) Ripon squad (17-8, 12-4) is led by a talented pair of underclassmen in freshman Erin Lind (12.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg), a First-Team All-MWC performer, and sophomore Emily Meyer (10.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg), a Second-Teamer. This will be the fourth NCAA Tournament appearance for Johnson, but the first for the current Red Hawk roster that includes only one senior.

Saint Benedict (24-3, 20-2) enters the tourney as the 2009 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champions and ranked 22nd nationally by the WBCA. The Blazers are led by 6-4 sophomore Danielle Frank (9.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg) and fellow sophomore Amy Stifter (11.4 ppg), who have been large contributors to the team's current 14-game win streak.

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Ripon, Wis. - Ripon Head Coach Julie Johnson (right) added to her team’s remarkable season by being tabbed the Midwest Conference Coach of the Year. Johnson’s squad saw one of the league’s most impressive one-year improvements as the team flipped last season’s 4-12 MWC mark around to 12-4 en route to winning the school's fourth Championship.

Beloit's Christine Brown (left) tops off her impressive career by being voted the 2009 Midwest Conference Player of the Year. Brown’s honor marks the first time a Buccaneer has won the award since its inception after the 1995-96 season. The senior guard led the Buccaneers to a 12-4 record in the MWC along with a number two seed in the Championship Tournament.

Click Here for 2008-09 All-Conference/Award Winners

Ripon, Wis. - The Division III women's basketball tournament field of 63 was released Monday morning, with the Red Hawks selected to face the College of St. Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minn. during the opening round at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 6. The game will mark Ripon's and Head Coach Julie Johnson's (right) return to the NCAA Tournament after a four-year hiatus.

St. Benedict enters the Tournament with a 24-3 record as the champions of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). They have won 14 games in a row and are a perfect 14-0 on their home floor. That may not phase Ripon (17-8), which has won 12 of their last 14 games and handed St. Norbert its first home loss of the season at Saturday's MWC Tournament Championship game.

Like the Red Hawks, St. Benedict has just two players averaging in double figures scoring. The Blazers are scoring 69.3 points per game this season, while giving up an average of 55.2 points. St. Benedict leads the nation in fewest turnovers, making 13.1 miscues per game.

The winner of Friday's game will play either UW-Whitewater or Simpson in a second round game at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. That second round contest will be played in Saint Joseph, Minn. on the campus of the College of St. Benedict.

Click Here for 2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket

#3 Ripon 56, #1 St. Norbert 49 - Predicted to finish seventh in the MWC Pre-Season Coaches' Poll, Ripon, the MWC's top road team at 8-1, ended St. Norbert's undefeated home season 56-49 to win its first Conference Championship since 2005. In a battle of legendary coaches, Ripon's Julie Johnson, who experienced her 250th win earlier this season, got the better of St. Norbert's Connie Tilley, who has coached over 500 career victories. A first-half defensive battle, put Ripon ahead 18-13 lead at the break. A 7-0 St. Norbert run, capped off by a pair of Jamie Kuhl free throws at the 15:08 mark swung the lead back in the Green Knights favor. The two teams would go on to tie another nine times before the Red Hawks took the lead for good with :49 remaining on a lay-up by Heidi Baerenwald. Again Ripon's free throw shooting sealed the game as it made good on all six attempts in the final minute. St. Norbert's Morgan Strasser led all scorers with 18 while Erin Lind had an impressive outing for the Red Hawks with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Ripon receives the conference’s automatic berth to the 2009 NCAA Tournament and will find out its first round opponent and location on Monday, March 2.

Saturday, February 28
#3 Ripon 56, at #1 St. Norbert 49

#3 Ripon 67, #2 Beloit 51 - A strong second-half  propelled Julie Johnson's Ripon squad to a 67-51 victory over Beloit and to its first Conference Championship game since 2005. The Red Hawks were up 22-19 at the break, but opened the half with back-to-back threes by Jessica DeHamer and Ashley Meister, extending their lead to nine. Beloit would battle back midway through the second half, cutting the lead to three with a free throw by Christine Brown. That would be as close as the Buccaneers would get though as Ripon went 13-for-14 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes to seal the win. The Red Hawks will attempt to give St. Norbert its first home loss of the season Saturday. The Championship game is set to tipoff at 2 p.m.

#1 St. Norbert 59, #4 Illinois College 47 - Looking to become the third No.4 seed to upset a No. 1 in MWC history, Illinois College trailed an early 7-0 to host St.  Norbert. The Lady Blues would come right back though as they went on a 16-4 run to take a five point lead just over the 12-minute mark. That turned out to be their biggest margin of the game as the Green Knights tied it 26-26 with a Denise Heuser free throw just before the end of the first half. St. Norbert came out with the hot hand in the second period, shooting nearly 60-percent from the field. Led by Morgan Strasser's 15 points, the Green Knights never again relinquished the lead, finishing of Illinois College 59-47. The Lady Blues' Rachel Macon led all scores with 21. St. Norbert will look to continue its home court and conference dominance Saturday as they will play Ripon at 2 p.m. for its second consecutive Conference Championship.

Friday, February 27
#3 Ripon 67, #2 Beloit 51
at #1 St. Norbert 59, #4 Illinois College 47

St. Norbert will attempt to win their league-best ninth MWC Championship as they play host to the 2009 Midwest Conference Championship. The weekend will kickoff with Ripon vs. Beloit at 5 p.m. Friday and conclude with the Championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday. All games will be broadcast live via the internet with full audio and video at www.midwestconference.tv.

Monmouth, Ill. - Monmouth College senior Melissa Gorski (right) has been named a finalist for the prestigious Jostens Trophy, sponsored by the Salem (Va.) Rotary Club and given annually to the top NCAA Division III men’s and women’s basketball players.

The Jostens Trophy awards the men’s and women’s Player of the Year based on academic excellence and community/campus service as well as athletic performance. Only 10 women and 10 men are named finalists for the award. The winners will be announced March 9, and the official presentation will occur in conjunction with the Men’s Division III Championship in Salem, Va., on March 19.

Gorski ended her playing career with 1,273 points, making her the Fighting Scots’ fourth-leading scorer all-time in the women’s program and her 312 career assists ranks her third. She was second on the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Gorski compiled a 13.8 career scoring average and a 6.1 rebound average. The Scots completed a 14-9 season, finishing with the second-most wins in school history.

An English major, Gorski has been named to the ESPN the Magazine All-Academic District V first team. She was named to the Monmouth College Dean’s List seven times and is a two-time Midwest Conference All-Academic selection.

Among her community service work, Gorski has done volunteer work for Special Olympics, Relay for Life and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. She also serves as a tutor at the local schools and is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi Literacy Alive program.

Click Here For Complete List of Finalists

Ripon, Wis. - Ripon College women’s basketball head coach Julie Johnson (right) reached an impressive milestone on Saturday during the Red Hawk’s 64-57 victory at Beloit College. In her 19th season, Johnson reached the 250 win plateau with that victory over the Buccaneers. The win also gave the Red Hawks a berth in the 2009 Midwest Conference Tournament, after a three-year hiatus from postseason play.

Johnson’s career record now stands at 250-191 for a winning percentage of .567, making her the all-time winningest coach in Ripon women’s basketball history. Under her leadership, Ripon has qualified for the conference tournament 10 times in the last 15 seasons, including this year. They have made it to the NCAA Tournament three times in Johnson’s tenure (1996, 2004 and 2005).

The Red Hawks are 13-8 this season, including a 10-4 mark in the MWC, with two games to play in the regular season. They are currently in third place in the conference, just one-half game behind Beloit.

Beloit, Wis. - With a layup at the 5:52 mark of the second half, Christine Brown (right) became the 13^th Beloit Women’s Basketball player to score 1,000 career points to cap off a monster night on Wednesday in Flood Arena.

The senior guard scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Bucs defeated Carroll University 75-56 in a key MWC contest.

Brown also moved into second on the career rebound list on Wednesday night and now has 759 in her career.

A two-time All-MWC pick, Brown will close out her home career on Saturday afternoon against Ripon College.

Waukesha, Wis. - St. Norbert College women's basketball coach Connie Tilley (right) became the 15th coach in NCAA Division III history to earn 500 wins as her Green Knights topped Carroll University 66-54 in a Midwest Conference battle at Van Male Fieldhouse.

Tilley, Wisconsin's winningest college women's basketball coach regardless of division, has an even record of 500-250 in her 32 years at St. Norbert. The triumph was a key one in the Midwest Conference race as the Green Knights improved to 12-4 overall and 8-1 in the MWC.

St. Norbert led from start to finish, jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the game's first seven minutes. Morgan Strasser scored six of the game's first eight points as the Green Knights took an 8-0 lead. The Green Knights led by as many as 14 points twice in the first half before settling on a 34-26 lead.

Carroll fought its way back into the game, trailing 50-45 with 10:46 left on a conventional three-point play by Leah Lemke. St. Norbert answered with a 6-0 run on baskets by Stefanie Bunday, Jamie Kuhl and Victoria Le Fevre.

The Pioneers battled back again to trail 58-54 with 3:42 left on a basket by Lemke, but she missed the following free throw. Carroll had the offensive rebound off the miss, but Bunday came up with a steal. St. Norbert missed but held Carroll scoreless on the next two possessions while getting hoops from Krista Pelky and Denise Heuser for a 62-54 lead with 1:37 to go. The Green Knights made their four free throws in the game's final minute and the Pioneers wouldn't score again.

Le Fevre led St. Norbert with 16 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor and also had six rebounds. Bunday made a strong run at a triple double, netting 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Bunday's rebound and assist totals tied career highs. Heuser added 12 points for the Green Knights, who shot 49.1 percent from the floor. St. Norbert was 28-for-57 from the floor, and attempted just three three-point field goals.

Lemke led the Pioneers with 20 points, while Karen Hoewisch had 11 points and Janelle Groer 10 points and 12 rebounds. Carroll was outrebounded by a 46-33 margin while shooting 32.1 percent (18-for-56) from the floor.

De Pere, Wis. - St. Norbert College has had its share of legendary people come through its athletics department during its existence. Connie Tilley (right) is a true St. Norbert legend.

Since arriving on campus in 1977, Tilley has been the face of women’s
athletics at St. Norbert College. Wisconsin’s all-time winningest college women’s basketball coach regardless of level, Tilley’s coaching tenures in basketball, softball and volleyball have impacted virtually every female athlete who’s ever donned a St. Norbert uniform.

Due to her loyalty to both St. Norbert College and the numerous student-athletes who have crossed her path, the college named the playing surface in Schuldes Sports Center “Connie Tilley Court” on Jan. 24, 2009, in a surprise ceremony following her 499th career basketball win against Knox College.

“I can think of no better honor for someone who has meant as much to our athletics department as Connie has,” St. Norbert athletics director Tim Bald said. “Not only does St. Norbert College appreciate Connie’s self-emptying service, but so do her many past and present student-athletes.”

Currently, Tilley’s collegiate coaching record stands at 828-447 with 18 conference titles in 54 sports seasons. Only four of her teams have finished below .500.

Her career record in basketball is 499-250 in her 32nd season at St. Norbert as of Jan. 24, 2009. Her teams have won eight Midwest Conference titles and four Wisconsin Independent Colleges-Women’s Athletic Conference championships.

“Having the opportunity to be successful early in my career always makes me shoot for doing better later in my career,” Tilley said in 2004. “I think we get excellent kids who want to compete and want to win. The people and students I get here, that’s what keeps me motivated and able to produce a winning basketball team.”

Tilley’s basketball teams have played in eight NCAA Division III Tournaments, including one Final Four appearance in 1985, as well as four Sweet 16 appearances. Tilley led St. Norbert to its most recent NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2003, upsetting No. 5-ranked Carleton on the road in the second round of the tournament. She also engineered an impressive 14-point win over Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference power UW-Stevens Point in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division III Tournament on the Pointers’ home floor.

Tilley spent nine years as St. Norbert’s women’s volleyball coach, going 130-76 from 1977 to 1985. She also led the women’s softball team for 13 years, posting a 199-121 ledger. Tilley still points to the Green Knights’ Midwest Conference women’s softball championship in 1991 as one of her biggest coaching highlights.

After giving up the volleyball and softball coaching duties, Tilley completed her ninth season as the women’s golf coach in 2004 and led the Green Knights to a third-place MWC finish in 2002, their best ever. In the spring of 2006, she took over the men’s golf coaching duties and will enter her fourth season coaching men’s golf in 2009.

In addition, Tilley coached the UW-La Crosse women’s tennis team one season while finishing her graduate work there - and the team finished seventh in the nation.

Tilley’s numbers are impressive for a person whose high school playing career consisted of two basketball games and whose collegiate career consisted of four years of tennis and two of basketball. And also whose coaching experience prior to coming to St. Norbert consisted of two months as an assistant basketball coach at West Salem High School.

The Beloit native and Memorial High School graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education at UW-La Crosse in 1974. She earned a master’s degree in public health administration from UW-La Crosse in 1976.

Tilley is a member of the St. Norbert Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and is the school’s assistant athletics director.

Illinois College's Candace Norville is the ultimate example of a student-athlete, with a special emphasis on the athletic part of the term.

The junior from Batavia, Ill., has competed in five different sports for the school's athletic program, and is on track to finish her collegiate career with at least 14 varsity letters in the spring of 2010.  Norville plays basketball, tennis and women's soccer, and runs for the track team in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

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MONMOUTH, IL -- Monmouth College senior guard Melissa Gorski permanently etched her name into the Fighting Scots record books last week, becoming only the seventh woman in the history of the basketball program to score 1,000 points.

“She’s worked very hard over her four years to become more of an offensive threat,” said Melissa Bittner of her star player, who averaged over 12 ppg as a freshman. “She came from a great program at Buffalo Grove. You could see as a freshman she had that scoring potential and came in with solid fundamentals.”

Gorski’s historic basket at Ripon came as most of the 5-foot-9 wing player’s points have over her four years – slashing and scoring in the paint. Needing just 11 points going into the game, Gorski put in the magic shot midway through the second half.

“She is probably one of the best all-around players our program has ever seen,” said Bittner.

The coach should know. Bittner is the third-leading scorer in Fighting Scots history, pouring in 1,318 points. At her current pace, Gorski could wind up just behind her coach in total points. Bittner also has the career free throw mark, something Gorski is also chasing.

“‘Mit’ can score, she’s a top defender and a great rebounder for a guard,” praised Bittner. “She’s led the team in assists and she’s ranked in the top ten of the conference in nearly every category. She’s just a solid all-around player.”

Gorki’s total value to the Scots is evidenced not by her scoring, rebounding or free throw stats, but by the amount of time she spends on the court. The senior averages nearly 36 minutes per game this season and more than 31 minutes for her career.

“She rarely leaves the court,” reported Bittner. “That says something about her ability.”

The Green Knights enter as the unanimous choice to repeat in the Preseason Coaches Poll after going 15-1 in league play and winning the conference tourney during the 2007-08 season.

Finishing as the runners-up last year, Lake Forest is the clear-cut choice for second as it was ranked lower in only one poll (third). Carroll, Beloit, and Monmouth follow in third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively, with only two votes separating each of them. Illinois College beat out Ripon for sixth place by only five votes while Grinnell, Lawrence, and Knox round out the remaining three spots.

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APPLETON , Wis. -- Marcus Heidorf has been named the new women's basketball coach at Lawrence University, Provost David Burrows announced Thursday. 

Heidorf comes to Lawrence from Alverno College, where he served as an assistant women's basketball coach last season. 

"I am impressed by Marc's enthusiasm and determination to build a strong program," Burrows said. "The students who met him are excited about him and are eager to begin working with him." 

As a native of nearby Manitowoc, Heidorf has closely followed the Lawrence women's basketball program and knows of the team's successes over the past two decades. He believes the Vikings will return to their position as one of the Midwest Conference's top teams. 

"I could not possibly be more honored and excited to be the new head women's basketball coach at Lawrence. This job has been a dream position over the years for me both personally and professionally," Heidorf said. "This is a program that has had success in its very recent history. After meeting the people, players, and staff here, I am convinced that the tools and support necessary to win are in place to enable us to be successful again. We know it's going to take some work to reach those goals, so I'm here ready to roll up my sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done." 

Heidorf has been coaching women's basketball for more than a decade and got his start when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He served as an assistant coach for the 1997-98 season in which UW-Oshkosh won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

A 1998 gradute of UW-Oshkosh with a bachelor's degree in radio/TV/film, Heidorf coached at the high school level from 1998-2006. He worked as the junior varsity head girls' basketball coach at Ripon High School from 1998-2001 before coaching the varsity boys' team at St. Lawrence Seminary from 2001-03. Heidorf was the varsity girls' head coach at Manitowoc Lincoln High School from 2003-05 before spending the 2005-06 season as the varsity girls' assistant coach at Menasha High School. 

Heidorf returned to the college coaching ranks in 2006. While attending graduate school at UW-La Crosse, Heidorf was the graduate assistant coach for the women's basketball team in 2006-07. He received his Master of Science degree in sport administration from UW-La Crosse in 2007. 

While working last season at Alverno, Heidorf helped the Inferno notch its first victory ever in the Northern Athletics Conference, and the team more than doubled its win total from the previous season. 

Heidorf and his wife, Sarah, have a son, Parker, and live in Sherwood. 

Lawrence tips off its season Nov. 15 when it hosts Macalester College. The Vikings return six letterwinners from a team that finished 4-19 overall and 1-15 in Midwest Conference play.

Michelle Walsh (right), the head women's basketball coach at Lawrence, is leaving the college. 

Walsh, who coached the Vikings for one season, has taken an administrative position at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. Walsh is a native of Wakefield, Mass. 

Walsh joined the Lawrence staff in July 2007 after serving as an assistant women's basketball coach at both William Smith College and Smith College. 

Lawrence has already begun a national search for Walsh's successor, according to Co-Director of Athletics Kim Tatro. 

Emily Cline (right) was named the head women's basketball coach at Knox on Monday, May 26. Cline, who will also serve as the head women's golf coach, will begin her duties on July 1. She replaces Wendy Rogers.

Cline spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant women's basketball coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. The Beavers were 13-13 overall and qualified for the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament in her only season on the staff. Before arriving at BVU, she spent the previous four seasons as the assistant coach at Sewanee: The University of the South in Tennessee.

A native of Farming ton, Iowa, Cline lettered in five sports - volleyball, basketball, track and field, softball, and cross country - at Harmony High School. She received her associate of arts degree in social work from East Central College in Union, Missouri, in 1998 before earning a secondary education/English degree from Cornell College in 2001. She was all-conference in basketball and softball at both East Central and Cornell. Cline toured with an Athletes in Action women's basketball team through Bolivia in the summer of 2002.

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Kate Gluckman (right), who helped build a successful women’s basketball program as an assistant coach at Tufts University, has been named the new women’s hoops coach at Grinnell.

Gluckman replaces Andy Hamilton, who resigned as the Pioneers’ mentor after serving six seasons. Gluckman has coached at Tufts since 2006. In her first season at the Massachusetts school, the Jumbos compiled an 18-8 mark. Tufts bettered that record this season, going 26-4 while advancing to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Gluckman also played basketball at Tufts, where she served as team captain in 2003-04 on a squad that went 18-6, the program’s best mark to that date. She was also a member of the Jumbos’ track and field team and earned All-New England honors in the discus in addition to collecting academic all-conference honors.

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Lake Forest athletic director Jackie Slaats officially announced on March 31 that Tamlyn Tills (right) will replace her as the school’s next head women’s basketball coach. In addition to her coaching duties, Tills will be an advisor/coach for the club golf program and assume administrative responsibilities within the department.

Slaats was the team’s head coach for 22 years before resigning from that position at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season.

Tills recently completed her sixth season at Concordia ( Ill.) and her 13th as a collegiate head coach. Her team finished the 2007-08 campaign 17-10 overall and 13-5 in Northern Athletic Conference play. The Cougars reached the semifinals of the conference tournament and came within one win of the program’s record for victories in a season.

Prior to her time at Concordia, Tills was a head coach for three seasons (1999-2002) at Loras and four (1992-96) at Concordia-St. Paul. She was also an assistant coach at the Division I level for three years each at Marquette (1987-90) and Cal State Fullerton (1996-99).

Tills was also a successful player, scoring more than 1,000 career points at both Milwaukee Lutheran and UW-La Crosse. She was an All-American and part of a national championship team at La Crosse and is a member of the school’s Wall of Fame.

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