ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – The No. 3-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team defeated Rochester College, 65-56, on Saturday afternoon inside Garth Pleasant Arena to capture their second straight Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Championship. It is the first time the team has won back-to-back WHAC titles while it is the first time since the 1994-95 season when the Orange and Black captured their fourth straight Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) title that a Warrior team has repeated as conference champions. The Warriors earn the WHAC's first automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Championships and will be making the trip out to Sioux City, Iowa for the third straight season.
 
DeAnn Kauffman scored a game-high 18 points while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out four assists. Kendall Knapke had 15 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Alexis Hill added 14 points and seven rebounds while Kyra Whitaker had eight points and six assists.
 
Tech started off the game on a 7-0 run with baskets from Hill, Knapke and Kauffman, but Rochester came right back with back-to-back three-pointers to make it a 7-6 game with 4:24 to play in the first. A pair of free throws from Isis Parker and a buzzer beater from Kauffman gave the Warriors an 11-6 lead at the end of the period while they held Rochester scoreless for the last four minutes and 24 seconds of the period.
 
Rochester cut the deficit down to two points at 16-14 with 7:02 to play in the second quarter following an 8-3 run, but the Orange and Black countered with an 11-2 spurt to make it a 27-16 game. The visitors took a 29-21 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
The Warriors continued to hold the lead throughout the third quarter, never letting the hosts get within seven points while growing their advantage to 15 points at the end of the period thanks to an 8-2 run. Tech held their 15-point advantage for several points during the final quarter of regulation, and while the host Warriors used an 11-2 run to cut the deficit down to 62-54 with 3:37 to play, they would not get any closer. Tech held Rochester to just one basket over the final three minutes and 37 seconds to ice the game and claim their second straight conference crown.
 
Tech (27-3, 18-2 WHAC) earns the number one seed in the upcoming WHAC Tournament and will host either Lourdes University, the University of Northwestern Ohio or Concordia University in a quarterfinal contest on Wednesday, February 20. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from the Schaefer Center. The Warriors opponent will be determined following Aquinas and Lawrence Tech's game on Monday night.