Lady Oaks Basketball Team head to Iowa for the National Tournament

By Stephanie Wertz

Oak Staff

The 2013 Menlo College Women's Basketball Team
Photo Credit: Menlo Athletics

The Lady Oaks Basketball team is motivated to move to the second round of the NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament.

They had an incredible regular season, with an overall record of 26-3 and a perfect 10-0 undefeated Cal Pac play. 

In their most recent game, the Oaks capped off their sweep of the 2013 Cal Pac Conference Tournament at the Haynes-Prim Pavilion, beating William Jessup 66-58 for the title.

They now travel to Sioux City, Iowa for the NAIA National Championship tournament. The tournament is a 32-team, single elimination tournament and will take place from March 6-12 inside the Tyson Event Center.

The Lady Oaks received a No. 5 seed in the third quadrant and will be playing No. 4 seed Jamestown College (N.D.) Thursday, March 7 at 11:45 a.m. (Pacific). Jamestown College enters with 26-5 record.

This NAIA national tournament appearance will be the Lady Oaks’ second consecutive year and fourth year in the past eight to the Division II big show.

In last year’s tournament the Lady Oaks’ lost in the first round, but that won’t be the case this year, the team says. There is even more motivating them this year.

Senior Jenna Marinaro must sit out of the first round of the national tournament due to a Feb. 23 on-court altercation. That game was the last regular season game in Marinaro’s college basketball career.

Menlo College Athletic Director Keith Spataro confirmed Marinaro’s situation.

"Jenna will be suspended just for the first game of the Nationals Tournament. After that, she will be able to play."

“Our team is motivated to make it past the first round, we’ve been here before and we need to come out on top and play our game, and if we win I’ll be able to play in the next game,” Marinaro said.

Jamestown, known as the “Jimmies” comes into the NAIA Division II tournament riding on a five-game winning streak. According to tournament preview written by Menlo Athletics, Jamestown has three scorers averaging 10 or more points a game. The Jamestown bench is also full of scorers. The team averages 77 points per game while holding opponents to just 58.9 per game.

Menlo’s Lady Oaks Basketball team may be peaking at the right moment. The team is on a 14-game win streak, according to the Menlo Athletic preview. The Lady Oaks are outscoring opponents 78-60 this season on 45% shooting from the field. Three of Menlo’s scorers currently average double digits. The team also features the Cal Pac Player of the Year, Jolise Limcaco, and the Cal Pac Defender of the Year Laurel Donnenwirth.

The championship final, which will be televised live on CBS Sports Network, will start at 6 p.m. on March 12.

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Oak Staff writer Nadia Le’i, contributed to this story.