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GRINNELL, Iowa - Cornell College will serve as the host of the 2017 Midwest Conference (MWC) Women's Basketball Tournament this weekend. The Rams went 17-1 in MWC action this season and won their first outright conference championship since the 2013 season. St. Norbert College, Ripon College and Grinnell College have also qualified for the four-team tournament.
The Rams will open tournament action against the Pioneers of Grinnell, who are making their second consecutive postseason appearance. Early in the regular season, Cornell trounced Grinnell on the road by 17 points, but a more recent matchup saw the Rams win by just seven. Cornell is 13-1 in 2017, with its only loss coming to second-seeded St. Nobert College.
Leading the way for the Rams is senior Diamond Boyd. Boyd was a First All-MWC selection last season and ranks third in the league at 14.8 points per game and leads the conference in rebounding (9.0 rpg) and steals (3.1). Sierra Bisso is a big threat from beyond the three-point arc as she set the school record for made three-pointers in a season (68) last week. Bisso also ranks fifth in the league in scoring at 14 per game. Madie Rinehart, Haley Grana and Anne Visser also start for the Rams. Tal Neilly is also a key bench player for the top-seeded team.
Battling Boyd down low will be the conference's leading scorer, Kayla Morrissey (16.3 ppg). The junior also ranks fifth in the conference in rebounding at 7.2 per game, while her teammate Alex Neckopulos grabs 7.7. Sophia Gratton is the team's top guard and ranks second on the team in points (8.1 ppg), while leading the team in assists and steals. She is also the Pioneers' top long-range shooter and has drilled 27 three-pointers on the season. Lydia Stariha and Haley Lopez figure to be the other starting guards for the fourth-seeded Pioneers.
In the other semifinal, a rivalry game between second-seeded St. Norbert and No. 3 Ripon looms. The two teams split the two regular season meetings, with each team winning on the other's home floor.
The Green Knights have been to the past three NCAA Tournaments and will need two wins this weekend to make it four straight. St. Norbert uses a balanced scoring attack, but Regan Carmichael and Brianna Byrne lead the way at 12.3 and 11.7 points per game, respectively. Both players make good use of the three-pointer as they have combined to knock down 84 on the season. Carmichael also spearheads the league's top defense as she ranks third in the league with 57 this season.
Despite averaging just 14.8 minutes per game, Mallory Nickerson is big contributor for the Green Knights as she scores 6.9 ppg, pulls down 4.4 rpg and leads the team with 31 blocked shots.
As a team, the Green Knights hold opponents to just 48.6 points per game and allow them to shoot just 32.8 percent. Ripon allows opposing teams to make field goals just 33.2 percent of the time. The second semifinal will also feature the top two rebounding teams in the conference, so it could be very difficult to find easy buckets.
The Red Hawks are the conference's hottest team, having won nine straight games since falling in back-to-back games to the Rams and the Green Knights in mid-January. Maggie Oimoen leads the team in points per game (14.7) and rebounds per game (7.3), while averaging just 20 minutes per game. She also shoots 57.4 percent from the field, which is the best in the tournament and leads the Red Hawks in blocks (37). Emma McDonald, Nicole Herkert and Megan Jensen all average between 7.5 and 8.0 points per game. Herkert is the team's top distributor and passes out 3.3 assists per game. McDonald and Jensen are the team's only two long-range shooters and have combined to make 69 on the season. Maddie Koster rounds out the lineup and leads the team in minutes played.
Cornell and Grinnell will open the tournament at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, with the St. Norbert-Ripon game following at 7:00 p.m. The winners of the two games will meet in the tournament championship on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. with an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament on the line.