One of the few teams in NCAA Division III history to feature three 1,000 point scorers on the same roster, the 2001-02 women’s basketball team came within a whisker of a national championship when a last second shot bounced off the rim in the title game.

The team went 28-4, won its league overall and tournament titles and became the third Saint women’s team to play in a national championship game.

Its senior class went 98-21 in four years and made a string of four straight NCAA appearances. Three of the four seniors on the team scored over 1,000 points, led by all-time scoring leader Meredith Eisenhut, who scored 1,464 points among a number of career records. Nicole Leary scored 1,086 career points and Cara Barbierri 1,119.

Barbierri earned Final Four all tournament honors along with junior Megan Dietrichsen, Leary earned first team all league honors with Dietrichsen and Barbierri also named to the team and Eisenhut was named UCAA Player of the Year, ECAC Player of the Year, MVP of the sectional tournament and was named WBCA Division III Player of the Year, Kodak All America and Verizon Regional Academic All America.

Members of the team set six career records and four season records in their run to the finals and Eisenhut set a Division III tournament record by going 20 for 20 from the foul line in a 64-61 win over Bowdoin in the sectional championship game. The Saints went on to beat DePauw 69-54 in the semifinals before losing to Wisconsin Stevens Point 67-65 in the final.