Washington University’s women’s basketball team (24-5) finds itself in unchartered waters. For the first time since they won their fourth consecutive national championship in 2001, the Bears will be making a return to the final four.

Four games into the season, this looked like an impossible feat. In November, the Bears stood at 1-3, the team’s worst start since the early 1980s. Saturday night, that impossibility became a reality when the women’s team defeated the University of Puget Sound 57-48 in Decorah, IA to make the program’s seventh trip to the NCAA final four.

“It feels so unbelievable. I am seriously in shock still. It does make it feel so sweet considering that no one had any faith in us at all,” said senior post player Rebecca Parker.

After trailing 32-30 in the first half, the ninth-ranked Bears exploded in the second stanza, led by senior point guard Sarah Schell’s 10 points. Schell finished the day with 16 points and seven assists. Parker added 14 points and 13 rebounds, breaking Wash. U.’s single-season rebounding record with 299. Freshman Zoe Unruh added nine points to the win while sophomore post player Jaimie McFarlin grabbed 12 boards.

A day earlier, the Red and Green had defeated number 25 Luther College 59-58 to advance to the elite eight. Unruh led the team with 11 points while Parker added 10 and eight rebounds. McFarlin also put up big numbers, scoring nine points and grabbing nine boards. Freshman Laura Lane-Steele added eight points off the bench in the win.

“We took one game at a time and got better every game. We never thought that the final four was out of reach by any means,” said senior Jenny Southworth, following their wins this past weekend.

On Friday, the Bears will face arch nemesis and conference rival New York University (27-2) in the national semi-finals in Springfield, Massachusetts. This will be their third meeting of the season, having split 1-1 in the previous two. On January 28th, the Bears defeated the Violets 78-71 at the Fieldhouse. Less than a week later, the Bears suffered their worst defeat during head coach Nancy Fahey’s tenure, falling to NYU 83-58 in New York.

Facing a team that Wash. U. knows so well should prove to be an immense challenge. Not only are the Bears and the Violets the reigning co-UAA champions, but their coaching staffs also split staff of the year honors. NYU also features UAA player of the year, sophomore Jessica McEntee.

“I can’t wait to play NYU because of the history between our teams. This is game three of the series on a neutral court. It’ll be a battle,” said McFarlin.

In the other half of the bracket, the University of Mary Washington (30-2) will take on Depauw University (27-5). UMW defeated number one ranked Bowdoin College in the elite eight to reach the final four while Depauw defeated the Bears 75-68 in the season opener. The winner of each game will meet at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Each of the Bears’ games will be broadcast on KWUR. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT on Friday.

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