WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Michelle Ferenz's 19th-ranked Blues begin their pursuit of an NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament championship as interlopers, the lone non-Texas team in a four-team regional at the UTD Activity Center in Richardson, Texas. Whitman plays East Texas Baptist University at 4 p.m. on Friday.

The winner draws the survivor of the regional's opening-round nightcap between No. 25 Trinity (Texas) University (23-3) and No. 28 University of Texas at Dallas (23-4) at 6 p.m. on Saturday for a berth in the Sweet 16.

Which Whitman team will show up: the team that won 21 straight games this season, or the one that scuffled against illness and dialed-in, red-hot conference rivals in losing three of its final four?

The answer is neither. The Blues are 0-0, recipients of an at-large tournament bid that punched the reset button.

"By not winning our conference, we gave other people control of our fate," Ferenz said. "We have control again. We worked hard and had a great year. This is what it's all about.

"The kids are genuinely excited, and they should be. We know how capable we are of playing at a really high level."

Here's a look at Whitman's regional pod:

• Whitman (22-4) vs. East Texas Baptist (22-6), 4 p.m. PST

How they made it
Ferenz has served on tournament selection committees in the past, which gave her a confidence -- perhaps not shared by others -- that the Blues would receive an at-large bid. Whitman entered the final three games of the regular season with several scenarios to win the Northwest Conference regular season title and top seed to the conference tournament. But it dropped decisions against eventual champ George Fox and Willamette.

Then it fell in a conference tournament semifinal to Willamette.

"The committee really does look at your whole body of work," said Ferenz. "Even though we didn't play very well down the stretch, we had a good year, better than a lot of teams."

That body of work produced a No. 5 ranking in the West Region and 2-1 record against all regionally-ranked opponents.

That body of work generated the nation's second-best field goal percentage, the nation's 11th-most assists-per-game, the nation's 21st-best assist-to-turnover ratio, the nation's 20th-best rebounding margin.

If it shoots like a contender, passes like a contender and boards like a contender -- it's a contender.

East Texas Baptist finished third in the American Southwest Conference East Division but caught fire in the conference tournament. ETBU won three straight, upsetting Mary Hardin-Baylor for the conference title to clinch the first national tourney berth in program history. Sophomore Kim Childress made a basket with 14 seconds left to give the Tigers a 71-70 win in that game.

"They're a Cinderella in a lot of respects," said Ferenz.

ETBU has one senior on its roster.

Styles make fights
Ferenz likes this matchup. The Tigers play a zone. Offensively, they attack with youthful zest.

"We have to hit shots," she said. "We have to contain their shooters and penetrators. We've got to board. We've got to move the ball.

"If we play well, we'll be fine."

Whitman senior Casey Poe sets the tone for the Blues. The NWC Player of the Year scored a team-high 16 points in Whitman's last game; sophomore Makana Stone, a first-team all-conference selection, just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. First-year Taylor Chambers is averaging 14 points per game and shooting 63 percent from the floor over her last three games.

ETBU "has proved a lot, and they're young," Ferenz said. Childress led the team in scoring (14.2 ppg), rebounding (6.8) and steals. First-year Madison McCoy is second on the team in scoring (8.9) and leads the Tigers in assists. Seven different players have at least 25 steals apiece, helping ETBU rank 49th nationally in steals-per-game.

"We had a good week. We're excited. It's tournament time; anything can happen," Ferenz said. "We're playing a team that upset a couple people. We're definitely the outlier, and the atmosphere is going to be fun."

Common foes
The Tigers lost 72-66 at home against Whitworth on Dec. 17 and beat Schreiner twice this season by a combined 26 points.

Whitman swept Whitworth 101-68 and 83-49, and handled Schreiner 93-47 in San Antonio.

• Trinity (23-3) vs. Texas-Dallas (23-4), 6 p.m. PST

UTD's Victoria Pena was third in the American Southwest Conference in scoring (15.6 ppg), fourth in assists-per-game, fourth in steals-per-game and 12th in rebounds-per-game. The Comets -- who are the host team for this regional -- led the conference in scoring defense.

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champion Trinity is on a nine-game winning streak, making it the hottest team in the pod.

Trinity's 23-point home loss to Whitman on Dec. 21 was its most lopsided defeat of the season. Its other two losses were by four and nine points, respectively.

The Blues beat Trinity 69-59 in the Sweet 16 last year after facing NWC rivals George Fox and the University of Puget Sound (at UPS) in regionals -- an immediate re-litigation of the conference tournament.

"We basically went right back to the same place and saw the same teams," Ferenz recalled. "It can take the wind out of your sails. There's a fatigue that goes with that. It's really a different experience to go on the road and not play conference teams.

"I'm excited because it's different," she added. "Maybe we'll grab some karma."