FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 10-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team will make its third straight trip to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament Championship as they defeated Aquinas College, 73-51, Saturday afternoon inside the Schaefer Center in the conference tournament semifinals.
 
The Warriors will host third-seeded Lawrence Technological University, who upset second-seeded and No. 17-ranked Siena Heights University, 71-61, in the championship game on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m.
 
Alexis Hill had a game-high 21 points with nine rebounds and five assists while Emma Wolfe had 18 points and seven rebounds. DeAnn Kauffman chipped in 15 points and five rebounds while Rachel Hill collected six points, six rebounds, nine assists and two blocks.
 
In a rematch of the regular season finale that happened just seven days ago in Fort Wayne, the Warriors wasted no time getting out in front as Kyra Whitaker sank a three-pointer on Tech's second possession of the game to that allowed the hosts to lead wire-to-wire. A pair of fast break baskets from Hill that were facilitated by Bell's outlets, along with a bucket from the top- assister in the nation put the Warriors up 9-2 four minutes into the game. Tech continued to pound the paint as they outscored the Saints 16-4 in the opening 10 minutes of play and had nine fast-break points. Their defense limited Aquinas to just 2-16 shooting from the floor as the Orange and Black led 22-7 at the end of the period.
 
The second quarter was a defensive struggle for both teams as they combined to go 10-30 from the floor and commit 10 turnovers in all. Neither side was able to get any sort of flow going on the offensive side of the court, but the Warriors managed to stay step-for-step with the Saints and took a 33-18 lead into the locker room.
 
The offense found its way back into the fold in the third quarter with 41 points between the two sides, while the Saints hit the offensive glass for six offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points. Tech was able to push its lead up to 20 points, but only for a possession as Aquinas went on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit down to 46-34 with 4:08 to go in the period. A triple from Kauffman stopped the bleeding and got the Warriors back on track, who tightened up on both the offensive and defensive ends to lead 54-38 at the end of the third.
 
Aquinas would continue its domination in the paint during the final quarter, scoring 12 of their 13 points inside the lane, but went just 6-18 during the period and 0-4 from behind the arc and couldn't get the deficit to under 13 points. Tech put the game away with a 12-4 run to make it a 21-point game with 2:38 left on the clock while a triple from Eileen Salisbury capped the scoring with 29 seconds left in the game to give Tech the 73-51 victory.