Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.The Wayne State women's basketball team isn't dreaming about hosting regionals or winning national championships.
The senior-dominated team has big goals, but experience has taught them to focus only on the next game.
"If you win games, everything is going to take care of itself," coach Chris Kielsmeier said.
That mind-set has propelled Wayne (21-2) into the third spot in this week's USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 coaches poll, the highest ranking ever for the program.
It's an exciting moment, but not one the Wildcats will celebrate for long. They've got some huge contests during the final five games of the regular season.
Wayne will play the University of Mary at 6 p.m. Friday and Northern State at 4 p.m. Saturday, then face Augustana the following Saturday.
Augustana (17-4, 14-3) and Mary (15-6, 12-5), which are second and third in the Northern Sun, beat first-place Wayne (15-2) earlier in the season. The good news is that both games are at home, where the Wildcats have a 39-game win streak, the longest in Division II. They haven't lost at Rice Auditorium since February 2009.
Winning this weekend will be critical for the Wildcats, who are in the Central Region with sixth-ranked Fort Lewis (18-2) and eighth-ranked Metro State (19-2). The top eight in the region rankings, which come out for the first time next Wednesday, advance to the national tournament.
"When you have three teams in the Top 10 in the country in the same region, and all fighting for position, if you relax and feel great with where you're at, your position is going to be bad quickly," Kielsmeier said. "The players understand that better than ever since I've been here."
Wayne has four seniors — Ashley Arlen, Clare Duwelius, Ali Schwartzwald and Eva Benson — in its starting lineup. Sophomore forward Ellen Hansen is the fifth starter.
Another senior, Alisha Brown, shares point-guard duties with Schwartzwald.
It's a unique situation, Kielsmeier said, with Schwartzwald playing the first 10 minutes and Brown the next. If both are playing well, they do the same rotation in the second half.
Schwartzwald, from Bethel, Minn., is tied for fourth all time in assists with 315; Brown, from El Paso, Texas, is sixth with 307.
"The two of them have played almost every minute of every game in the four years they've been here as our point guard," Kielsmeier said. "They are so unselfish. It's a great success story because of who they are as people."
That has forced Audrey Holmes, a sophomore point guard from Omaha Concordia, to redshirt this season. She's embraced her role on the scout team, Kielsmeier said, because she knows that her time will come.
"You have to understand your role," Kielsmeier said. "It is not about you, it's what is best for the program. It's a way of life in our program."
Which may be why the Wildcats have gone 73-11 over the past 2½ years. Only three Division II teams have fewer losses.
"I have a very focused group that wants to do something very special," Kielsmeier said. "They've done a lot of special things in the past, but it hasn't been enough. We want to do more."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1034, marjie.ducey@owh.com
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