On Saturday, March 1st, the Transylvania Pioneers Women’s Basketball team clinched the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title by defeating the Mount St. Joseph University Lions 69-62. The championship title marks the seventh year in a row that the Pioneers have won the tournament title, clinching an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in the process. The Pioneers, led by first-year coach Hannah Varel, now head to the NCAA Tournament riding a sixteen-game winning streak.
Despite some struggles early in the season, with the Pioneers holding a 6-5 record through the first eleven games of the season, the Pioneers won the HCAC regular season title by multiple games; the Pioneers have not lost a game so far in the year 2025. With a 16-1 record in HCAC play, the Pioneers earned the number one seed in the conference tournament, and the right to host the tournament in the Beck Center, for the fourth consecutive year. With this year’s HCAC Tournament expanding to eight teams, the Pioneers began tournament play on Saturday, February 22nd against the eight-seeded Blufton University Beavers. After a back and forth first quarter, the Pioneers began to expand their lead in the second quarter with timely three-point shots, holding a twelve point lead at the half. However, the Beavers continued to fight back, slowly chipping away at the Pioneer lead throughout the second half, with the Pioneers leading by five points halfway through the fourth quarter. Late free throws helped the Pioneers hold on for a 58-52 victory. Advancing to the semifinals, the Pioneers faced the number four-seeded Anderson University Ravens on Friday, February 28th. Things started looking quite grim for the Pioneers, with the Pioneers trailing by eight after the first quarter. The Pioneers slowly worked their way back through the next two quarters, trailing by one as the fourth quarter began. However, a dominant fourth quarter, with the Pioneers scoring twenty-four points while shooting sixty percent from the field, holding the Ravens to only four points scored on only thirteen percent shooting, would erase the memories of the tight first three quarters. The Pioneers won 70-51 and advanced to the championship game against the two-seeded Mount St. Joseph the next day.
This is the second consecutive year that the Pioneers have faced the Lions in the HCAC Championship game, with last year’s championship quickly devolving into a twenty-eight point rout in favor of the Pioneers. Things would not be so easy for the Pioneers this time around, as the first three quarters would be a constant back and forth. The Pioneers led by one point after three quarters. Transylvania and Mount St. Joseph would trade one-possession leads through most of the fourth quarter, with a jumper by junior guard Makya Grinter tying the game at 59-59 with a little over three minutes to go. The game would ultimately be decided in the final two minutes when the Pioneers scored three-pointers on back-to-back possessions, courtesy of senior guard Sadie Wurth and sophomore guard Riley Flinn respectively. This created a deficit that the Lions could not overcome, and after some free-throws for good measures, the Pioneers secured a 69-62 win.
This win continues the Pioneer’s dominant run through the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, with it representing their seventh-consecutive tournament championship. The Pioneers previously earned their fourth consecutive HCAC regular season title, and twelfth overall. Wurth, who scored fifty-seven points across the Pioneer’s three tournament games and scored one of the decisive shots of the championship game, was named tournament MVP, as well as being named to the All-Tournament team alongside junior guard Sierra Kemelgor. This was in addition to the numerous regular season honors earned by the Pioneers, with Kemelgor being named HCAC Defensive Player of the Year, first-year head coach Hannah Varel winning HCAC Coach of the Year, and Wurth and Kemelgor being named to the First and Second All-Conference Teams respectively.
With the win, the Pioneers also secure their fourth-consecutive automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers will travel to Bloomington, Illinois to kick off the NCAA Tournament. There, they will face the Trine University Thunder on Friday, March 7th at 6:00 P.M.. Should the Pioneers advance to the second round, they would face off against the winner of a match between the home-team Illinois Wesleyan Titans and the Centre College Colonels on Saturday, March 8th at 8:30 P.M..
