The DePauw women's basketball team is ranked first in the country after a sweep this past weekend against ranked opponents.
The Tigers received 23 first-place votes Monday evening to earn the ranking by D3hoops.com, followed by University of Mount Union in second and University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in third. Then on Tuesday, DePauw was ranked No. 1 by the USA Today Sports Div. III Top 25 Coaches' Poll with eight first place votes.
"It's an honor to be ranked No. 1, but the only time it matters is in March," head coach Kris Huffman said Wednesday. "So we need to continue to work hard because the target on our back just got bigger. ... As I've told the team all season long, the early polls are just peoples' guesses based on last year's team and performances. We're willing to take the challenge."
DePauw competed in the Frontier Communications/Titan Tournament at Illinois Wesleyan University against Washington University in St. Louis and Illinois Wesleyan . Facing Washington, the No. 6-ranked team in the country, DePauw gutted out a 60-59 win Saturday, then downed the No. 7 team and defending national champion, Illinois Wesleyan on Sunday.
This is the first time the Tigers began the season 5-0 since 2002.
"I think its an honor to be part of such of great team, but we need to realize that any team could be ranked No. 1 at this point and it just happened to be us," senior point guard Kate Walker said.
The wins left the team feeling content with their toughness at this point in the season, but they're still anticipating upcoming challenges.
"We pushed the team hard this preseason to prepare for this difficult stretch of games," head coach Kris Huffman said.
Walker led the team with ten total assists, while junior Alex Gasaway led in points, scoring 18 against Illinois Wesleyan and eight against Washington. Junior Alison Stephens and senior Ellie Pearson both notched 12 total rebounds.
For Walker's efforts, she was named NCAC player of the week and was selected to D3Hoops.com's team of the week.
"Kate Walker did a nice job handing the press against Illinois Wesleyan," Huffman said. "Savannah Trees had a heck of a shooting day against Wash U. Pearson, Gasaway, Stephens and (Erin) McGinnis have been consistently rebounding. Ali Ross worked her tail off defensively to slow down top guards."
One struggle the team faced in this first set of games was finishing free throws against Washington University, missing 11 of 29.
"We went down to the wire against Wash U," Huffman said. "We hit our [free throws] when we needed to. We want to improve our consistency."
Down by one point with six and a half seconds left in the game against Washington, Walker was fouled and hit both of her free throws. Her baskets, along with Gasaway's steal as her opponent drove to the basket, won the game against Washington University, 60-59.
Despite the Tigers' undefeated start, they're not going to take their first conference game Saturday against Denison University lightly.
The Tigers and the Big Red played a close battle last year, finishing with a win, 58-45, and DePauw is expecting nothing less this year.
"They are challenging and have a lot of experience returning," Huffman said.
