GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Golden Eagles are set to travel to rival Aquinas for a high stakes matchup in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament quarterfinal. CU comes in as the six seed in the tournament while AQ is the three and they will play in a win or go home quarterfinal game. The game will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m., and live video/audio/stats available at cugoldeneagles.com.

Opponent: Aquinas
Date: Thursday, February 22
Time: 7 p.m. EST
Location: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center)
Internet Coverage: Live Video/Audio/Stats
 
WHAC Tournament Outlook
The eight spots are set in stone for the conference tournament quarterfinal, as No. 6 Cornerstone travels to No. 3 Aquinas on Thursday at 7 p.m. Other WHAC Tournament matchups include: No. 1 Indiana Tech vs. No. 8 Madonna, No. 2 Lawrence Tech vs. No. 7 Siena Heights, and No. 4 Rochester vs. No. 5 Concordia. There is no reseeding in the tournament, so the winner of Cornerstone and Aquinas will take on the winner of Lawrence Tech and Siena Heights on Saturday in the WHAC Tournament Semifinals. 
 
WHAC Tournament History
Cornerstone has won six WHAC Tournament championships with the last one coming in the 2008-09 season. In the previous five seasons under head coach Katie Mattera, CU has made two semifinal appearances and no tournament final appearances. Cornerstone has not met Aquinas in the WHAC Tournament since 2008-09 when CU won 62-55 in the semifinals. 
 
Scouting AQ
Aquinas won four of their final five games to pull away from the pack and earn the three seed in the conference tournament. AQ sees eight players 5-11 or taller, helping them to be one of the best defensive teams in the WHAC. The Saints rank third in the conference in scoring defense per game holding opponents to 57.8 PPG, and AQ is fourth in field goal percentage defense at 36.1%. Individually, a duo of Davenport transfers in Michaela Faber and Momo Neal have led Aquinas all season long statistically. Faber is the team leader with 13.1 PPG and 8.4 RPG. Neal averages a team best 3.1 APG to go along with her 10.2 PPG. 
 
Aquinas WHAC Tournament History 
Aquinas College has won two WHAC Tournament championships and been runner-up six times since entering the conference in 1993-94. Head coach Linda Nash, in her 22nd year as head coach, won her last conference tournament title in the 2007-08 season when they defeated Madonna 84-79. Since 2010-11 AQ has lost in the quarterfinal five times and not qualified for the tournament two times. 
 
Mol Arena Record
The Golden Eagles hit 33-37 free throws in the game vs. Lawrence Tech, breaking a Mol Arena record for made free throws in a game. 33 made free throws is also the most ever in Cornerstone's recordable history (since 2000-01). Jesse Sheridan was a perfect 14-14 from the line in the game, to become the first CU player with 10+ made free throws since Jill Hendrickson hit 10 in 2014. 
 
Sheridan 15 Away
Jesse Sheridan scored 33 points last week to put her 14 points from tying and 15 from earning eighth all-time in scoring in CU program history. Sheridan's career is coming to an end with just the WHAC Tournament games remaining, and she has tallied 1,478 total points. Jandi Hillaker (1991-95) is currently eighth in program history with 1,492 career points. 
 
This year vs. Aquinas
The Golden Eagles have gone 0-2 this season vs. the Saints, losing 75-62 at Aquinas earlier this season and 65-59 in early February. Jesse Sheridan was the leading scorer in each of the two appearances for the Golden Eagles, scoring 16 in the first matchup and 18 in the second. Michaela Faber was the leading scorer for AQ in each game scoring 15 in the first meeting and 19 in the second. 
 
Mattera vs. Aquinas
Head coach Katie Mattera has been dominant against the rival Saints in her six years as coach, posting a 9-3 record all-time. Before losing the two games this season, CU won seven in a row against Aquinas. Two of the three losses for Mattera have come in the Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center on the campus of Aquinas College.