ST. PAUL, Minn.  The NCAA 2017 Women's Division III Basketball Championship continues Friday with Sweet 16 match-ups that include 16th-ranked Whitman College.

The Blues (25-4) open the St. Paul Sectional against No. 7 Trinity (Texas) University (28-1) in a 3:30 p.m. PT game at Schoenecker Arena on the campus of host Universty of St. Thomas. The second game of the night pits the second-ranked and unbeaten Tommies (29-0) against Marymount (Va.) University (24-5) in the 6 p.m. PT meeting.

Friday's Sweet 16 winners advance into the Elite 8 game Saturday at 6 p.m. PT.

Whitman
Conference: Northwest Conference, third in the regular season (12-4) the Blues won the conference playoffs on the road on the top seed's home court.

How it got here: In NWC rematches Whitman defeated George Fox (76-72) in Round 1, then Regional host and ninth-ranked University of Puget Sound (69-67) to advance to the Sweet 16.

Who: Second-team all-conference player Chelsi Brewer leads the team in scoring averaging 13.9 points per game, fourth highest in the league. Her 71 3-pointers is second most in the NWC … First-team all-NWC player Casey Poe splashes across the stat line with 11.1 PPG, 27 blocks (third in the NWC), a total of 117 assists (NWC second) and a 1.8 assist/turnover ratio (NWC fourth), and 5.5 RPG … Emily Rommel and Makana Stone do the heavy lifting near the rim with marks of 7.0 and 6.3 rebounds per game, respectively.

Trinity
Conference: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champions, posting a 13-1 league mark in the regular season falling only to Texas Lutheran which it defeated in the SCAC conference playoff final.

How it got here: The Tigers beat Hendrix (82-74) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (77-66) to move past the Regional rounds of the national tournament.

Who: Four players average double digits in scoring but the duo of Micah Weaver (15.8 PPG) and Monica Holguin (15.4) are the leaders … Three players work the glass for the Tigers with Abby Holland (5.5 RPG), Weaver (5.4) and Elizabeth Balido (5.4) pacing the team … Grace Horn averages team highs in assists per game (3.9) and steals per game (2.2).

St. Thomas
Conference: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Captured its sixth consecutive MIAC conference playoff crown in 2017.

How it got here: A Regional host, the Tommies downed Wisconsin–Superior (98-56) and Chicao (73-69) to earn a Sweet 16 spot.

Who: Kaitlin Langer is the clear leader in the offensive end with a 19.4 PPG average. She also leads the team around the rim with 8.4 RPG … Gabby Zehrer is a major contributor (12.7 PPG) for the offense, while Paige Gernes does the unsung work with 3.2 assists per game and 1.4 steals per game.

Marymount
Conference: Capital Athletic Conference, where the Saints fell out of the postseason league tournament with semifinal loss.

How it got here: Marymount upset Regional host Guilford (74-70) in the opening round, then punched its Sweet 16 ticket with a Round 2 victory over Albright (68-59).

Who: Three players average in double figures with Nicole Viscuso (11.6 PPG) also leading the team in rebounding (6.9 per game) … Kiki Laux and Regan Lohr both average 10.9 PPG … Leah Hurst is the team's leader in assists (5.6 per game) and steals (2.6 per game).