Western Tech women’s basketball set for rematch with Hostos

Western Tech women’s basketball is off to Rockford, Illinois for the NJCAA Division 3 national tournament later this week.

It’s the program’s second-straight trip to the tournament, and this trip will have a big sense of deja vu.

The six seed Cavaliers match up with three seed and New York City-based Hostos Community College, the same team who beat them in the semifinals last season.
The Caimans feature plenty of size and like to press, but the Cavaliers are confident they’re up to the challenge.

“I remember the really tall, 6’6″ girl,” sophomore Lexi Schmidtknecht said. “I think everyone can still picture her in our heads, but honestly, they just had a really good guard group. They were very fast and talented, and that will be one of our biggest challenges. We just have to work as a team defensively to make sure she doesn’t get the ball, so a lot of pressure up top.”

Head Coach Brent Thill said Hostos likes to press opponents on defense, but that actually works into Western Tech’s favor.

“Every team that has pressed us this year has really struggled to contain us, because we play so many guards,” Thill explained. “It’s going to be a battle of bigs vs. guards.”

Hostos comes into the matchup averaging 75 points a game on offense, while Western Tech’s defense allows just 55 points a game and holds opponents to a field goal percentage of 33 percent.

Tipoff from Rockford is set for 5 p.m. CT (6 ET) Thursday.

wkbt