Kittoe scores the game winner with 2.3 second remaining in regulation to defeat No. 24 Carroll College. (Photo courtesy of Edgewood College)

Scheele poured in a school record 38 points as the Eagles stunned the Pioneers, 66-64, in Waukesha. (Photo courtesy of Edgewood College)

Edgewood stuns nationally ranked Carroll
WAUKESHA, Wis. -- Senior Jordane Kittoe (Potosi, Wis.) scored the game winner with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation and sophomore Megan Scheele (New Glarus, Wis.) poured in a school record 38 points Friday as Edgewood College hung on to a 66-64 victory in its season opener at Carroll College.

The Pioneers (0-1), host of the 2006 Kilgour Tournament which concludes Saturday, entered the season ranked No. 24 in the USA TODAY ESPN Division III Coaches' Poll [link to poll] and were picked to win the Midwest Conference title in 2006-07. But Carroll could not stop Scheele, who shot 17-of-25 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds in the victory. Scheele broke her own scoring record of 33 points which she established last year.

The win marks the first career victory for first-year head coach Tola Neils and its the first season-opening win for Edgewood College since a 61-55 victory against Viterbo College back on Nov. 18, 1992.

Scheele scored 24 of her points in the first half, and Edgewood College (1-0) shot nearly 60.0 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes to take a 34-33 lead at halftime. The Eagles maintained their hot shooting (56.0 percent) in order to outlast 11 lead changes and 10 ties throughout the contest, despite two of their starters -- Danielle Tramburg (Fall River, Wis.) and Jessica Abel (Menasha, Wis.) -- fouling out of the game leaving Neils without any players left on the bench. Three Eagles played the entire 40 minutes.

Abel was able to contribute 10 points prior to picking up her fifth personal foul of the evening, and Kittoe (Potosi, Wis.) added 14 points. Four Pioneers racked up double figures in scoring led by Crystal Hoewisch and Kim Wickert with 14 points apiece. Hoewisch was held to just 1-of-12 shooting, but sank 12 foul shots in her 16 attempts at the free throw line.

Edgewood College will now advance to the championship game at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18, but the competition will not get any easier. The Eagles will take on No. 9 UW-Stout for the first time since the first round of the 2005 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships, in which the host Blue Devils (1-0) defeated Edgewood College 70-59. UW-Stout knocked off Benedictine University, 86-60, in Friday's early contest.

Courtesy of Edgewood College, Sports Information Department, November 17, 2006.