SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Indiana Tech Women's Basketball team continues play in the NAIA Division II National Championship Friday morning with a second round matchup against the University of Jamestown in a battle of 30-win teams. Tip-off is set for 9:30 a.m. EST from the Tyson Events Center.
 
Last Time Out: The Warriors defeated Bryan College, 76-60, in the first round of the NAIA DII National Championship and advanced to the second round for the first time since the 1995 tournament. DeAnn Kauffman led all players with a game-high 20 points while Rachel Bell scored a career-high 16 points while adding five assists, four rebounds and two blocks. Bella Lozano-Dobbs all hit a career-high in scoring with 12 points. Tech got a pair of double-doubles from their posts as Keanna Gary notched her 22nd of the season with 11 points and 15 rebounds while Kendall Knapke had 10 points and 10 rebounds to record her third.
 
Following the Warriors: Links to live stats and video ($), provided by the NAIA Network, can be found at www.IndianaTechWarriors.com. You can also follow along on Twitter at @INTechWBB and @INTechWarriors.
 
Head Coach Jessie Biggs: Now in her sixth year as the head women's basketball coach at Indiana Tech, head coach Jessie Biggs has amassed an overall record of 120-73 and a 82-41 mark in WHAC play. She was named the WHAC Coach of the Year in 2018 after guiding the Orange and Black to their first-ever regular season WHAC championship, her second year in a row winning the conference honor. Prior to coming to Tech, Biggs spent two seasons as the Graduate Assistant Coach at Western Illinois and was an Assistant Coach for three seasons at Coe College, while the Iowa native was a standout player at the University of Northern Iowa, where she was garnered Second-Team All-MVC honors as a senior.
 
Series Notes: This is the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
 
Scouting the Opposition: The Jimmies defeated Cardinal Stritch, 65-51, on Wednesday to reach the round of 16 for the sixth time in seven seasons and reached the 30-win mark for the first time in program history. Bryn Woodside leads the Jimmies in scoring (13.2 ppg) and assists (120) and returned to the court on Wednesday for the first time in a month after suffering a knee injury in practice, while Paige Emmel and McKayla Orr both average double-digit figures at 12.2 and 11.9 points per game. Jenna Doyle leads the team in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and blocks (93). Jamestown won the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) regular season championship with a perfect 16-0 record and was knocked off in the NSAA Tournament Championship by Valley City State University.
 
Poll Thoughts: The Warriors maintained their number nine spot in the final regular season edition of the Coaches' Top 25 Poll and were ranked in every poll this year.
 
Historic Season: Tech captured its first-ever regular season WHAC championship on Valentine's Day with a win over Lawrence Tech, marking the first time since the mid-1990's when the Warriors went to four consecutive NAIA DII National Championships that a team has finished atop the conference standings.
 
More History: Tech's victory against Bryan Wednesday pushed their win total to 30 on the season, the most in program history. The 1991-92 team won 28 games, the previous high mark of the Warriors, and finished with a 28-3 record and won the NAIA District 21 Title, sparking a four-year run of appearances in the NAIA Division II National Championship.
 
Tournament History: The Warriors are making their sixth appearance to the NAIA DII National Championship and hold a 4-5 record all-time in the tournament. The team's last appearance came at the 2017 event while the Orange and Black made their other four appearances from 1992-95.
 
WHAC Awards: The Orange and Black had several individuals honored by the conference two weeks ago with the release of its regular season honors. Head coach Jessie Biggs repeated as Coach of the Year while Haley Cook was tabbed as the Player of the Year and was joined on the All-Conference First-Team by Keanna Gary. Kendall Knapke earned a spot on the All-Conference Second-Team.
 
Fallen Warrior: Senior guard Haley Cook has been most of the most prolific players in program history since stepping onto the court as a sophomore transfer in the fall of 2015, but has experience horrible luck when it comes to the national championship. In the WHAC Tournament Semifinal win over Concordia, Cook suffered a torn ACL, and while she intends to play in the tournament, she will have ended her career with a healthy appearance in the national tournament, as she suffered a torn UCL as a junior in the WHAC Tournament semifinal and played at less than 100% in the 2017 event. She played 13 minutes in the first round game, but hit a key three-pointer to push Tech's lead back up to double-digits after a 24-2 run from the Lions made it a 46-38 game with 4:18 to play in the third.
 
Double-Double Machine: Keanna Gary continues to be one of the best low-post players in the nation as she has recorded 22 double-doubles on the season, the most in the NAIA.