It was only four years ago that senior Captain Caroline Stedman dominated the court here at Walpole High.  Four years have passed and the former standout basketball player and student is now an NCAA champion.  Stedman, a junior at Amherst College in Amherst, MA, recently won the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament.  In addition to winning the tournament, Stedman was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

Stedman led an Amherst team that boasted a 32-1 record and helped make the Lord Jeffs the first ever NESCAC team to win the title and only the second New England team to win the tournament.  Amherst defeated Washington University by a score of 64-55 on March 19 in Bloomington, IL.

This past December, it was uncertain whether or not Stedman would be able to play at all because she had two bulging discs in her lower back.  After an epidural steriod injection and some rest, Stedman was able to come back into the lineup.

Last year, Stedman averaged 17.1 points per game and was an All-American – only the second ever All-American from Amherst.  This year, because of the her injury, she only averaged 10 points per game, but still was named all-NESCAC second team.

In the NCAA championship game, Stedman gave one of her best performances of the season  and went 8 for 16    from the floor and 3 for 4 from  three point range.  In all, Stedman scored  37  points   in the Final Four – including 19 in the final.  This former Rebel, now turned Lord Jeff, has shown that Rebels’ tradition of excellence lives on even away from home.