Wartburg Knights women's basketball

Wartburg Knights
Wartburg Knights
Head coach	Bob Amsberry (18th season)
Conference	ARC
Location	Waverly, Iowa
Arena	Levick Arena ; (capacity: 2,000)
Nickname	Knights
Colors	Orange and Black;
Uniforms
NCAA tournament Final Four
	2016, 2018, 2024
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
	1992, 1993, 2001, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2024
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
	1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024
NCAA tournament appearances
	1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
Conference tournament champions
	2001, 2002, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2024
Conference regular season champions
	1990, 1992, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024

The Wartburg Knights women's basketball team represents the Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, United States. The team is a member of the American Rivers Conference as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team plays its regular season games in Levick Arena, along with men's basketball, wrestling, and volleyball teams.

History

Wartburg women's basketball began in 1974, under head coach Doug Johnson. The first Wartburg team finished 12–3 in 1974–75, its first victory coming against the Northern Iowa Panthers. Johnson coached only one season at Wartburg, which marked first winning season.^[2] Since Johnson Wartburg has had a total of 7 head coaches, the majority of the seasons coached by Monica Severson and current head coach Bob Amsberry.

The 2015–16 season Wartburg broke through to their first final four in school history.^[3] The unranked Knights got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002. They would beat 3 ranked teams on their way to a regional championship and finish the season 23–8. Since that year the Knights have made it to 8 straight NCAA tournaments and two other appearances in the NCAA Final Four in 2018 and 2024.^[4]^[5]

NCAA tournament results

Wartburg has appeared in 17 NCAA Tournaments with a record of 26–17.^[6]

Year	Rank	Round	Opponent	Result
1989		First Round	Augustana (Ill)	L 74−93
1990		First Round Sweet Sixteen	Augustana (Ill) Buena Vista	W 72–57 L 63−78
1991		First Round	Luther	L 54−78
1992		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	UW-Stout St. Benedict (MN) Luther	W 90–72 W 74–64 L 61–70
1993		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	Wash U (MO) UW-Whitewater Central (IA)	W 75–60 W 83–77 L 60–62
1994		First Round	Aurora (IL)	L 57–61
1999		First Round	St Thomas	L 41–67
2001	13	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	Chapman Nebraska Wesleyan Fontbonne Wash U (MO)	W 86–78 W 85–71 W 82–78 L 71–83
2002		First Round	Carleton	L 61–71
2016		First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four	Wisconsin Lutheran #11 UW-Oshkosh #8 St. Thomas #5 Texas Tyler #7 Tufts	W 65–49 W 66–56 W 70–66 W 80–74 L 50–63
2017	9	First Round	Chicago	L 63–67
2018	2	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four	Webster #12 George Fox #7 Trine East Texas Baptist #5 Bowdoin	W 86–45 W 82–58 W 78–54 W 65–61 L 62–90
2019	11	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	Bethany Lutheran #9 Hope #13 UW-Oshkosh #2 St. Thomas (MN)	W 91–63 W 76–49 W 70–57 L 56–85
2020	5	First Round Second Round	Monmouth #11 Whitman	W 91–55 L 63–67
2022		First Round	Millikin	L 68–81
2023	24	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#13 Baldwin Wallace #6 Hope #1 Christopher Newport	W 57–43 W 81–67 L 51–60
2024	6	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four	Wisconsin Lutheran #16 Illinois Wesleyan Bates #9 Washington and Lee #14 Smith	W 72–65 W 62–59 W 54–53 W 68–58 L 54-61 OT

Head Coaching Records

Statistics overview
Season	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Wartburg Knights (no conference games) (1975–1982)
1974–1975	Doug Johnson	12-3
Doug Johnson:		12-3
1975–1976	Marge Schaffer	11-11
Marge Schaffer:		11-11
1976–1977	Cheryl Wren	14-8
1977–1978	Cheryl Wren	15-6
Cheryl Wren:		29-14
1978–1979	Nancy Schley	14-8
1979–1980	Nancy Schley	9-16
1980–1981	Nancy Schley	9-17
Nancy Schley:		32-41
1981–1982	Kathy Meyer Thomas	9-14
Wartburg Knights (Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1982–2018)
1982–1983	Kathy Meyer Thomas	7-14	1-5
1983–1984	Kathy Meyer Thomas	14-10	8-6
1984–1985	Kathy Meyer Thomas	9-14	6-8
1985–1986	Kathy Meyer Thomas	6-18	4-10
1986–1987	Kathy Meyer Thomas	6-18	3-14
1987–1988	Kathy Meyer Thomas	13-12	9-7
Kathy Meyer Thomas:		64-86	31-50
1988–1989	Monica Severson	21-6	13-4	2nd	NCAA First Round
1989–1990	Monica Severson	22-5	14-2	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
1990–1991	Monica Severson	20-7	13-3	2nd	NCAA First Round
1991–1992	Monica Severson	23-4	17-0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1992–1993	Monica Severson	23-5	13-3	2nd	NCAA Elite Eight
1993–1994	Monica Severson	20-6	14-2	2nd	NCAA First Round
1994–1995	Monica Severson	11-12	7-9	5th
1995–1996	Monica Severson	17–7	11-5	3rd
1996–1997	Monica Severson	16-8	12-4	3rd
1997–1998	Monica Severson	17–8	15-5	3rd
1998–1999	Monica Severson	20-5	17-3	2nd	NCAA First Round
1999–2000	Monica Severson	17-8	14-6	2nd
2000–2001	Monica Severson	26-5	18-2	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2001–2002	Monica Severson	21–7	14-4	1st	NCAA First Round
2002–2003	Monica Severson	19–8	14-4	3rd
2003–2004	Monica Severson	19-9	11-5	3rd
2004–2005	Monica Severson	16-11	9-7	4th
2005–2006	Monica Severson Kathy Franken	7-17	4-12	8th
Monica Severson:		335-131	233-80
2006–2007	Bob Amsberry	13-13	8-8	6th
2007–2008	Bob Amsberry	13-11	6-10	7th
2008–2009	Bob Amsberry	16-11	10-6	2nd
2009–2010	Bob Amsberry	18-8	12-4	3rd
2010–2011	Bob Amsberry	21-5	12-4	3rd
2011–2012	Bob Amsberry	18-9	10-6	T-3rd
2012–2013	Bob Amsberry	16-10	9-5	2nd
2013–2014	Bob Amsberry	12-15	5-9	T–5th
2014–2015	Bob Amsberry	17-11	6-8	T-5th
2015–2016	Bob Amsberry	23-8	9-5	3rd	NCAA Final Four
2016–2017	Bob Amsberry	25-3	15-1	1st	NCAA First Round
2017–2018	Bob Amsberry	31-1	16-0	1st	NCAA Final Four
Wartburg Knights (American Rivers Conference) (2018–Present)
2018-2019	Bob Amsberry	27-4	15-1	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2019-2020	Bob Amsberry	25-4	14-2	1st	NCAA Second Round
2020-2021	Bob Amsberry	13-3	6-2	T-2nd	Postseason not held; COVID-19
2021-2022	Bob Amsberry	21-6	13-3	2nd	NCAA First Round
2022–2023	Bob Amsberry	23-7	15-1	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2023–2024	Bob Amsberry	29-3	16-0	1st	NCAA Final Four
Bob Amsberry:		361–132	187-75
Total:		854-424
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

Current coaching staff

Head coach: Bob Amsberry
Assistant coach: Kelli Jacobs
Assistant coach: Justin Little
Athletic trainer: Jessica Albright

^[7]

Head coaching history

As of the completion of 2024 season^[8]

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1974-1975	Doug Johnson	1	12–3–0	.800
1975–1976	Marge Schaffer	1	11–11–0	.500
1976–1978	Cheryl Wren	2	29-14-0	.674
1978-1981	Nancy Schley	3	32–41–0	.438
1981-1988	Kathy Meyer Thomas	7	64–86–0	.427
1988-2006	Monica Severson	18	335–131–0	.719
2006	Kathy Franken	1†	1–7–0	.125
2006–present	Bob Amsberry	18	361–132–0	.732
Totals	7 coaches	50 seasons	854-424–0	.668

† Kathy Franken served as the interim head coach for the end of the 2005–2006 season following the departure of Monica Severson.

Individual awards

Conference Awards

Conference Awards^[9]
Year	Player	Type
1989-90	Kathy Smith	Most Valuable Player
1991-92	Kathy Roberts	Most Valuable Player
2000-01	Holly Mohs	Most Valuable Player
2000-02	Holly Mohs	Most Valuable Player
2010-11	Samantha Harrington	Most Valuable Player
2011-12	Leslie Wilson	Defensive Player of the Year
2016-17	Katie Sommer	Most Valuable Player
2017-18	Katie Sommer	Most Valuable Player
2018-19	Emma Gerdes	Most Valuable Player
2019-20	Emma Gerdes	Most Valuable Player
2022-23	Sara Faber	Most Valuable Player
2023-24	Jaedon Murphy	Most Valuable Player

References

^ "Brand Guidlines Wartburg College" (PDF). Retrieved March 22, 2023.
^ "Wartburg Women's Basketball Recordbook - Women's Basketball". go-knights.net. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
^ "NCAA women's basketball: Wartburg headed to Final Four, 80-74". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. 12 March 2016.
^ Petaros, Nick (16 March 2018). "NCAA women's basketball: Bowdoin ends Wartburg's storybook season (PICTURES)". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.
^ Nelson, Jim (March 14, 2024). "College Women's Basketball: Wartburg College loses in OT in D3 National Semifinal". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
^ "Women's Basketball". Wartburg College Athletics.
^ "Women's Basketball Coaches".
^ "Wartburg Knights Women's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Wartburg Knights. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
^ "Conference Awards - American Rivers Conference".

External links

Official website

[1] "Brand Guidlines Wartburg College" (PDF). Retrieved March 22, 2023.

[2] "Wartburg Women's Basketball Recordbook - Women's Basketball". go-knights.net. Retrieved 2023-03-13.

[3] "NCAA women's basketball: Wartburg headed to Final Four, 80-74". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. 12 March 2016.

[4] Petaros, Nick (16 March 2018). "NCAA women's basketball: Bowdoin ends Wartburg's storybook season (PICTURES)". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.

[5] Nelson, Jim (March 14, 2024). "College Women's Basketball: Wartburg College loses in OT in D3 National Semifinal". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 15 March 2024.

[6] "Women's Basketball". Wartburg College Athletics.

[7] "Women's Basketball Coaches".

[guide-8] "Wartburg Knights Women's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Wartburg Knights. Retrieved June 2, 2023.

[9] "Conference Awards - American Rivers Conference".

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