SXU Women's Basketball Enters NAIA Tournament After Banner Year

CHICAGO, IL - Achieving the No. 1 national ranking in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II Top 25 poll a few months back was a long-time coming for the Saint Xavier University women’s basketball program.

The program has been among the best at the NAIA level ever since it resurfaced in 2000 under Bob Hallberg, a longtime college men’s basketball coach who has seen a history of success with Chicago State, the University of Illinois-Chicago and Saint Xavier. Winning 20 or more games a year is a given for a team that often finds itself in the top 10 and has been a constant at the top of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

But before the 2015-16 season, the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA (in Division I or II) had always eluded the Cougars. They had reached No. 2 and No. 3 numerous times, but were never considered the consensus best team in the nation. A few close wins over strong opponents at the front end of the season and an upset loss by the preseason No. 1 later, and Saint Xavier found that magical spot.

This week, Saint Xavier seeks to accomplish something else they never have. A trip to the Final Four.

Despite having qualified for the 32-team NAIA National Tournament in all 16 years of their own existence, SXU has yet to advance to the semifinal round. The closest they’ve been was last year, when the team suffered a one-point loss to Hastings College in a national quarterfinal.

But this could be the year the Cougars get over the hump. With a 29-3 overall record, SXU - currently the No. 2 ranked team in the NAIA) - is a No. 1 seed and faces Tennessee Wesleyan University in the first round of the playoffs on Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. in Sioux City, Iowa - the site of all tournament games.

“We aren’t just happy to be here, but you can’t look any further than the first round,” said Hallberg, the school’s Athletic Director who has been at the helm of the SXU women’s program since 2000. “Everyone who is here must have done something right to get here. All you can do is look at the first game, then hopefully get by and look at the next.”

The way the NAIA playoffs are set up is as challenging as any other college sport. First round games are Wednesday, the Second Round is Friday, quarterfinals Saturday, semifinals Monday and championship game Tuesday. There are no gaps like in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments. The team that wins the NAIA title will have to win five games in seven days.

“Sure it’s crazy, but the good thing is it’s crazy for everyone,” said Hallberg. “Nobody has the advantage. It’s like walking into a dark gym and complaining that it’s not bright enough. Well the same factors affect both teams. It always helps to have depth and stay away from injury when you are in this ‘survival of the fittest’ mode, something the NAIA has done forever. You just have to go into it knowing what you are going to do, focus on yourself and hopefully play the way that got us to 29-3.”

An important part of that impressive mark for SXU this year has been Kara Krolicki, a sophomore guard who played in high school at Lincoln-Way East. A member of the All-CCAC First Team this year, Krolicki averaged 20.1 points per game during the regular season and was the conference’s leader in three-point shots made.

“Kara has tremendous confidence in herself,” Hallberg said. “She doesn’t get struck down easily. She could miss four shots in a row, and believes the fifth one is going in. She is extremely confident, plays the entire floor and can score a variety of ways. She has a tremendous move to the basket and gives us a real strength with her versatility.”

Krolicki’s leadership has been vital for a team which lost four starters - including one All-American - from last year’s Elite Eight squad. But Hallberg also points to center Caitlin McMahon, another Lincoln Way-East alum and the only listed senior on this year’s team, as another who has played a big part in the team’s success.

McMahon has “a tremendous knack for going straight up and defending the post,” Hallberg said. “Her rebounding and shot blocking is a major strength for us and she runs the floor real well.”

McMahon averaged 10.5 points and team-bests 7.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game this season.

The two LWE alums are just a pair of 11 players on the roster who hail from Chicagoland high schools.

“Why get on a plane to California when you can find someone in your own backyard,” said Hallberg, who has focused his recruiting efforts in the Midwest for years, even when coaching NCAA Division I men’s programs. “We hang out in Chicagoland high schools. If you can do well in Chicago, you really don’t have to venture much further. It’s such a hotbed of recruiting, but the key for us is to find those players who may have been overlooked by Division I schools.”

The No. 1 ranking the Cougars achieved earlier this season was a unique accomplishment for Hallberg. When NAIA coaches made SXU’s rank official in December, the longtime coach became the first person to ever lead both a men’s college basketball program and women’s college basketball program to a No. 1 spot. In 1983, Hallberg led the Chicago State men’s team to the top spot in the NAIA. Also nicknamed the Cougars, Chicago State joined the ranks of NCAA Division I shortly after.

It’s not something he expected when first making the transition from the men’s game 16 years ago.

“Never in my wildest dreams,” he said. “It was a great moment to get that very talented Chicago State team to that level, but in 2000 when we started here, other than (coveted Maria High School basketball star) Mary Cain, we didn’t know we would be able to recruit the talent needed since we do not give full scholarships.”

The accomplishment is something Hallberg says he is “very proud of,” but that it is more of a testament to great players rather than his abilities as a coach.

“You can’t do something with just great coaching,” he said. “You need to have the talent. I’m very fortunate to have a talented team that beat some pretty tough opponents in close games. Looking at the schedule at the start of the year, we didn’t know we could accomplish that, but we kept on winning.”

While Hallberg was at first surprised to hear he would be the only one to ever accomplish the feat, it isn’t too far fetched.

“People didn’t take women’s basketball seriously until the 1990s, and even when we began here in 2000. There’s also not a lot who have coached both and it’s not very common to cross over.”

As rare as that accomplishment is, the Cougars hope for one even sweeter if they can string together a few wins in Iowa.

“The thought process for players and coaches is much different,” Hallberg explains. “When we get on the bus, we’re trying to figure out how to prepare for this and that and when the players get on the bus, they fall asleep.”

“Their adrenaline will come about 10 minutes before the game. That’s just the nature of coaches and players. There will be anxiety for both teams, but once we fall into the normal game routine the nerves will start to calm. While you can afford to have a bad game earlier in the year, you can’t now. We need to play well every night and I’m confident we will.”

Photos: SXU Athletics