UW-La Crosse women’s basketball just punched its ticket into uncharted territory, cruising past Carroll University 80-60 and landing the program’s first-ever NCAA Division III Sweet 16 berth. Senior guard Malia Nelson powered the Eagles through back-to-back postseason wins, stacking points, rebounds and assists all weekend. Next stop is New York, where UWL will play its Sweet 16 matchup at NYU on Friday, with tip set for 4 p.m. Central.
Malia Nelson’s two-game push
According to UW-La Crosse Athletics, Nelson put up 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in the 80-60 win over Carroll. One night earlier, she opened the tournament with a 12-point, 10-rebound, six-assist line in a 78-52 victory over LaGrange College.
The box scores show it was hardly a one-woman show. Grace Knupp led the way with 17 points against Carroll, while Molly Janke and Jenna Welsch also hit double figures. As a team, the Eagles shot 35-of-67 (52.2%) in the second-round win, and UWL’s recap credits timely runs that turned a tight first half into a comfortable margin by the fourth quarter.
What the milestone means
Saturday’s win sent UWL to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, a milestone highlighted by the Post Bulletin. The paper points to Nelson’s Dover-Eyota roots and her steady postseason presence across both games as a key storyline in the Eagles’ surge.
The result gives UW-La Crosse its deepest NCAA tournament run yet and a chance to measure itself against one of the region’s top Division III programs on a New York stage.
Next up: Southern Maine at NYU
UWL’s official recap says the Eagles will face Southern Maine on Friday at New York University, with tip-off listed at 5:00 p.m. Eastern (4:00 p.m. Central). The program has posted a link to a postgame press conference with Coach Moran Lonning and players, and the team will head east this week to prepare for the sectional matchup.
If the Eagles can rediscover the same balanced scoring they showed against LaGrange and Carroll, they will give themselves a real shot at crashing the Elite Eight.
How to follow
The NCAA sectionals run March 13-14, and many hosts stream games on their athletics pages or via NCAA.com, according to the tournament schedule compiled by SportsBrackets. New York campus sites typically post local broadcast details the week of the games, so fans should keep an eye on host-school feeds along with the Eagles’ official channels for viewing info and travel notes.
One way or another, La Crosse fans will get their chance to rally around the city’s first Sweet 16 squad this weekend.
