Bates College competes in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament for the third time in program history when it faces Wartburg College on Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Rhode Island.

Wartburg (27-2) is based in Waverly, Iowa. The Knights have won 16 consecutive games and have yet to lose in 2024.

The winner of Friday’s game will meet either Rhode Island College or Washington & Lee in the Elite Eight on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

This is the Bobcats’ (24-5) first time in the Sweet 16 since 2005, when current coach Alison Montgomery was in her senior season at Bowdoin College. Bates also reached the Sweet 16 in 1998. The Bobcats have yet to advance beyond this round.

Senior captain Morgan Kennedy has led the Bates charge this season, starting all 29 games while tallying a team-high 415 total points (14.3 per game) and shooting 43 percent from the field.

She said this season has been the favorite of her career.

“The team makes it super easy, and this has been the best senior year,” Kennedy said. “It’s been awesome.”

Kennedy, who is from Oklahoma City, has been a key player since she started playing at Bates. The Bobcats only played two games her freshman year, due to COVID-19, and she scored 21 in the first and 14 in the second.

She started 19 of 24 games and averaged 10 points per game her sophomore season, when she helped the Bobcats earn the program’s first NESCAC championship and win an exciting first-round game in the NCAA tournament in overtime before falling in the second round. Kennedy was named to the Maine Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s All-Newcomer team.

Kennedy averaged 9.9 points and started every game her junior year, when the Bobcats’ season ended in the first round of the NESCAC tournament.

This year’s team is different than the past three at Bates, Kennedy said, because of the level of experience. The Bobcats’ roster is predominantly underclassmen — eight players are freshmen or sophomores — which has allowed the four upperclassmen to take on leadership roles. The roster is also smaller this year, with 12 players, which has created a tight-knit, family-like atmosphere.

“I think the leadership that Morgan brings, separate from making plays and hitting shots and getting stops — which are really important things that she does as well — but just her presence can be really important to keep our team stabilized and together,” Montgomery said following Bates’ 66-51 first-round win over Brooklyn College.

Kennedy’s twin sister, Alyson Kennedy, is also on the team. Alyson Kennedy also has started every game, averaging 2.8 points per game.

Looking ahead to the rest of the tournament, Montgomery has high expectations for Morgan Kennedy, the rest of the team and the program.

“I wouldn’t say we’re surprised to be here; it has been the vision that we’re working towards, to not only compete in a really tough conference, but to want to represent with our brand of basketball in the NCAA tournament,” Montgomery said after Bates’ 79-66 win over Widener University in the second round on Saturday. “I just think we’re really going into it with a desire to show how good we are and how we can represent on a larger scale in Division-III.”

Montgomery also said that before the tournament that if the Bobcats secured wins in the first two round on their home court, which they did, it would put the team in a “really nice position to keep competing for a national championship.”

For Kennedy, this season has been a dream come true.

“This team is just so special, the way we are with each other, the way everyone’s committed and knows their roles and stuff. … I’ve never had a more fun year of playing basketball,” Morgan Kennedy said Saturday. “It’s really nice to see the hard work and everything that we’ve set in preseason starting to pay off.”

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