The 2023-24 Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team saw a mix of veteran players stepping into increased roles and newcomers making immediate contributions to the team as the Spartans finished the 2023-24 campaign with 11 victories.
CWRU went 11-14 overall during the campaign, including a 4-10 record in University Athletic Association games, good for a sixth-place finish in the final league standings. The Spartans finished non-conference play with a 7-4 record, including wins in five of their last six games outside of UAA play.
Also included in the team's overall record was a 3-1 mark in its final four games of the campaign with the Spartans' strong finish coinciding with senior guard Sarah Mitchell. Mitchell broke the 20-point mark six times in the team's final nine games after having not accomplished the feat before that point in her career. In addition, she connected on 15 three-pointers over the final eight games of her career after making just one over her career before the stretch. Mitchell capped off her season with a career-high 27 points and 12 rebounds against Carnegie Mellon.
Mitchell, who finished the season with 11.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, was named to the All-UAA Second Team following the campaign, while senior forward Kayla Characklis earned a spot on the All-UAA First Team and the D3hoops.com All-Region Third Team after leading all Spartan players with 14.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game during the season. Characklis' 57.6% shooting percentage was a school single-season record and the 11th-highest mark among Division III players in 2023-24.
Characklis' all-region honor marked just the eighth time in program history that a CWRU player has received the postseason acclaim.
The Spartans' success was also aided by the emergence of first-year guard Mya Hartjes who appeared in all 25 games, including 20 as a starter, and finished the year averaging 7.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game with a team-leading 36.9% mark from behind the three-point line. CWRU also received significant contributions from a pair of graduate student transfers in forwards Kate Montgomery (7.2 points, 5.0 rebounds) and Morgan Micallef (6.0 points, 2.9 rebounds). Sophomore guard/ forward Emily Plachta (6.0 points, 3.1 rebounds), senior guard Margaret Terry (3.9 points, 2.2 assists, 1.8 rebounds), and senior forward Preet Gill (1.2 points, 1.5 rebounds) all played significant roles for the team during the campaign, and first-year guard Jordyn Call provided 5.1 points per game off the bench over the first 16 games of the season before missing the final nine due to injury.
As a team, CWRU averaged 64.2 points per game on 37.4% shooting overall and 27.9% from three-point range, while allowing 66.2 points per game. The Spartans led all UAA teams in free throw percentage during the campaign, shooting 73.1% from the line, the 46th-best mark among all Division III teams. CWRU also averaged just 13.6 turnovers per game during the year, the fewest in the UAA and 29th-fewest in Division III.
The Spartans split their first two games of the campaign (with their win coming in their season-opening game against Waynesburg) before going 1-1 at the Pablo Coto Tip-Off Tournament, where Characklis secured a spot on the All-Tournament Team after averaging 14.0 points and 6.0 rebounds over the two games. After a loss at John Carroll to fall to 2-3 for the season, the Spartans responded with a season-long three-game winning streak with victories over Allegheny on the road (73-55), and Mount Union (63-59) and Kenyon (72-29) at home. The 29 points allowed against Kenyon marked the fifth-best defensive effort in program history.
After a road loss on a last-second shot against Denison, the Spartans ended their non-conference schedule with a pair of wins at the Puerto Rico Clasico, defeating Emmanuel 74-73 and Norwich 73-60.
CWRU began conference play with back-to-back losses to Carnegie Mellon and top-ranked NYU before bouncing back with a 64-53 win at home over Brandeis. However, the Spartans struggled over the next month, dropping seven straight games to fall to 1-9 in UAA affairs. CWRU broke its losing streak with a 71-64 win at Brandeis on February 11, and after a loss to 22nd-ranked Emory, ended their season with back-to-back double-digit home wins against Rochester (83-68) and Carnegie Mellon (63-52).
In addition to their achievements on the court, nine members of the CWRU women's basketball team – senior guard/forward Kennedy Boone-Sautter, Characklis, Gill, sophomore guard Emi Hutter-DeMarco, junior forward Evie Miller, Mitchell, junior guard Nyah Moore, sophomore guard Maya Roberts, and Terry – received UAA All-Academic honors for their academic accomplishments during the campaign. Characklis, Micallef, Mitchell, and Montgomery were each also named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
Spartan players earned the following honors during the 2023-24 season:
The following were the CWRU team leaders during the 2023-24 season:
