The Tiger's loss to Carthage College in the second round of the NCAA tournament wrapped up a season in which success overwhelmed failure.
"We had bigger dreams," head coach Kris Huffman said.
In their inaugural year in the NCAC, the Tigers established a formidable presence, winning both the regular season and the conference championship. The Tigers earned a top ten national rank for 11 straight weeks.
The team also earned the privilege to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. This phenomenal season did not always look so promising. Early struggles could have jeopardized the entire operation. However, as evidenced in this season's review, the Tigers pulled together to create a passion-filled, fun year of basketball.
DePauw Drops Early Decision to Franklin
The Tigers lost its first and only game of the regular season in the second game of the season at the Franklin College Tipoff Tournament to Host Franklin 52-47.
As Huffman reflected on the beginning of the season, she recalled that first weekend as incredibly important.
"We started the season 1-1. I don't know if we should have been as good as we were this year… because after that first weekend, I didn't know if we could win a game," Huffman said.
The Tigers needed to step up and the opportunity presented itself the very next weekend.
DePauw Wins Thanksgiving Invite
In a perfect response to the questions raised by the previous weeks loss, the Tigers showed the nation their grit, beat two top 25 ranked teams in Illinois Wesleyan and Washington University (St. Louis) and won the Washington University-St. Louis Thanksgiving Invitational.
The Tigers earned their first trophy of the season with the 69-57 win over Washington.
DPU Defeats Denison, Wins First NCAC Game
The no. 11 nationally ranked DePauw women's Basketball team picked up its first North Coast Athletic Conference victory in against a Denison University squad who went 28–1 in 2010-11 with 58-45 win.
DePauw Wins First NCAC Regular Season
The women claimed the NCAC regular season title with its 85-43 win against Hiram College. The win notched DePauw's 70th home conference win, including the 63 from games in the Southern Collegiate Conference. The victory marked Huffman's 13th conference title in her 19 seasons at DePauw.
Tigers Win Conference Tourney
The Tigers breezed through the NCAC tournament with 76-38, 69-52, and 61-41 wins against Oberlin College, Wittenberg University and Denison University. The championship gave the team an automatic birth into the Div. III national tournament.
DePauw Hosts NCAA, Drops Second Round
DePauw's title dream died in a closely contested battle against Carthage in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a 48-53 loss.
The Tigers, who finished with a final record of 27-2, dispatched newcomers Westminster College (MO.) 66-46 in the opening round before falling to the Lady Red in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Individual Awards
Several members of the team were recognized for outstanding season performances. Senior Katie Aldrich earned the Nan Nichols NCAC women's basketball player of the year award. A team player, Aldrich was quick to point out her teammates.
"Our team is deep and everyone is able to contribute something offensively," Aldrich said.
Sophomore Ali Ross also made the first-team All-NCAC women's basketball team.
Huffman was recognized as the NCAC women's basketball coach of the year for her team's undefeated performance in just their first year in the new league.
This DePauw team's success was dependent upon many more members than just these three and while they may not have received any awards from the conference, it is important to award other Tiger players of some much-deserved recognition.
Junior Ellie Pearson's rebounding prowess pumped DePauw to one of the best board-grabbing teams in the country. Huffman reiterated Pearson's influence on each game.
"Our best offensive and defensive rebounder, that's what is so great about Ellie," Aldrich said.
Junior Kathleen Malloy and senior Kathryn Denbow provided the Tiger snipers with clean looks all season. Both players regularly led the team in assists due to their ability to push the fast break and bag buckets in the pivotal Tiger transition. Malloy also contributed multiple, high-scoring games while Denbow constantly kept her teammates focused and confident.
Kate Walker, the team's all-important ball-handler, was disappointed with the loss at the end of the season, but could not help looking towards next season.
"Already I'm thinking about the future, about next year," Walker said. "Honestly, we are going to have good leadership from the juniors and we will do whatever it takes."