After memorable regular seasons from the Men’s and Women’s basketball teams, the focus shifted to what many in the world of sports refer to as the real season — the postseason.
The Women’s team tied their all time win total this regular season, amassing an 18–7 record which earned them third place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The third place finish awarded the team home court advantage for the first round of the MIAC tournament.
The opponent was the sixth seeded St. Mary’s University, which the Pipers took care of easily earlier in the season on Jan. 29 with a 64–38 victory. This was one of four games this season where the stellar defense held an opponent to under 40 points in a game.
The rematch gave Hamline a larger challenge than the first time around but nonetheless, Hamline was able to exit with a 73–61 victory to advance to the MIAC semifinals. Sophomore standout Yasmeen Abed led the night in scoring with 13 points in 25 minutes and picked up five rebounds as well.
Close behind Abed with 12 points was junior Josie Wiebusch who did not miss a shot attempt all night long, going 4–4 from the field and 3–3 from behind the arc.
The starting five ended up recording 58 of the team’s 73 points last Tuesday, continuing a historic season of dominance. The women’s team will travel down to St. Peter on Feb. 27 to face off against the second ranked juggernaut Gustavus Adolphus (24–1).
The Men’s program played Concordia Moorhead right before the Women’s program defeated St. Mary’s. The action packed double header led to an attendance of over 1,500 fans inside Hutton between the two contests. The Cobbers were not a strong enough match for last year’s MIAC runner-up, but Hamline was able to coast into the second round with a 74-59 point victory.
Senior Bradley Cimperman led the charge with an all time great performance, scoring 31 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Cimperman also played all 40 minutes of the game, living up to the superman nickname.
Fifth-year senior Austin Holt nearly recorded a triple double in the win with 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. The starting five recorded all 74 points in the win, 26 of which were scored off of Cobber turnovers.
The Men’s program will head to the MIAC semifinals for the third straight season, set to face off against St. Johns, who they defeated on an iconic buzzer beater from Cimperman to complete the upset and send Hamline to the conference championship. They will face off again on Feb. 27 for a trip to the tournament championship, which the winner of will earn an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness.