IUSB women's basketball rolling into postseason play
Coach Steve Bruce is definitely hoping that history repeats itself.
His Indiana University-South Bend women's basketball team is in a great position to do just that this week.
The No. 17 Titans, sitting at 27-1, will try to win the Chicagoland Conference Athletic Tournament this week. IUSB made school history a year ago by becoming the first athletic team to win both the conference regular season and tourney championships in the same season.
IUSB, which closed out the conference season as repeat champions at 19-1 after beating Judson University 109-61 at home Saturday, are 14-0 on their home hardwood in the Student Activities Center this season. Their 27-1 overall mark is the best regular season record in program history.
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The Titans will host the University of Saint Francis (Illinois) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a quarterfinal contest of the CCAC Tourney. A win would put IUSB back at home Thursday evening for a semifinal game at 7 p.m. The championship game is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. IUSB defeated Saint Francis 86-69 and 83-66 in their pair of regular season league contests.
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"Our three goals back in September were to win the CCAC regular season title, win the CCAC tournament and advance to the Sweet 16 of the NAIA National Tournament," explained coach Bruce. "Those have never changed. What we need to do now is to continue to forge ahead and try and reach those goals."
The Titans have not missed a beat this campaign after going 28-3 overall and 18-2 in the CCAC last season to become the winningest team in program history. They lost in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament for the second straight year. The Titans have already earned another berth to the national tourney. Pairings for the 64-team tourney are slated for March 7 with games beginning March 15-17 at campus sites. The Round of 16 is set for March 21-26 in Sioux City, Iowa.
IUSB, which went 82-18 the previous four seasons, has blended experience and great guard play into an almost unbeatable formula. The Titans average 83 points per game with a winning margin of 25 points per game. They started the season 24-0 before a 72-55 loss at St. Xavier (Illinois) on Feb. 14.
The Titans are led by the trio of junior Tenleigh Phelps and sisters Maddie and Katie Gard, both fifth-year senior guards. The 5-11 Phelps, who hails from Shelbyville, Ind., is averaging 19.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest and shooting 61 percent from the field after transferring in from NCAA Division I Youngstown State. Maddie Gard averages 16.9 ppg. and leads her team with 60 steals. Katie Gard averages 15.6 ppg. and leads the team in 3-pointers with 72 in 179 attempts.
Maddie Gard, who hails from Wisconsin, is the all-time leading scorer in IUSB basketball history (men's or women's) with 1,874 points. She broke the record on Feb. 10 during an 81-44 home win over Saint Ambrose University. Both Gards were NAIA honorable mention All-Americans in 2023 and Maddie was also one in 2022.
The Titans have also gotten a tremendous season from former Riley High School star Jazmen Watts. The 5-9 senior guard, who is in her second season after playing at Bethel University in Mishawaka previously, averages 13.1 ppg. Watts, who scored over 1,000 career points at Riley, is 45-137 from 3-point land.
The Titans rely heavily on their starting five, which also includes fifth-year senior guard Emma Fisher, to carry the load. The starters, who all scored in double figures in Saturday's regular-season finale with Phelps and Katie Gard leading the way with 24 points each, all average between 28 and 30 minutes per game for Bruce. Sullivan Kessler, a junior guard, is the top reserve at 20 minutes per outing. Kendal Taylor, a 6-3 freshman center who played at Concord High School, has played in 10 games. Porter Barickman, a 6-0 freshman center, has also stepped up off the bench with freshman Ashlee Schramm and junior Amaya Rufus both sidelined due to injuries this season.
Bruce, who is in his 18th season as head coach and 10th as the Executive Director of Athletics, has seen his squad even exceed his lofty expectations.
"I said back in September that I thought this team would be very good, but not as good as last year's team," Bruce said. "We were a great team last year.
"We knew what we had with the Gards. But Jazmen Watts has really stepped up for us this season. She's a scorer for us like she was at Riley. And the biggest difference has been the addition of Tenleigh Phelps. She's been a big key for us.
"Both of those players have exceeded my expectations this season. They are big reasons why we can be an even better team than we were last year."
Bruce says it's all about taking care of what is in front of his team now that the postseason is here.
"We just need to keep our eye on the prize," remarked Bruce. "We play our best at home, where we have not lost since December of 2022. The keys for us now that the postseason is here are to control what we can control. And that means being great on defense, rebounding the basketball and taking care of the basketball. All three of those things are 100 percent in our control."
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana University-South Bend women's basketball eyes postseason run
