{"id":243487,"date":"2025-10-27T05:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T05:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/243487\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T05:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T05:43:07","slug":"womens-basketball-building-connections-ahead-of-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/243487\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s basketball building connections ahead of season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UW-Whitewater women\u2019s basketball team faced the cold as they hosted their sixth-annual tailgate and pig roast fundraiser during homecoming weekend. This event contained a silent auction, a pig roast and time to connect with the student-athletes and their families.
\u201cIt\u2019s a great fundraiser for our program and an opportunity for us to kick off the season,\u201d head coach Keri Carollo said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to celebrate this year at homecoming as well, that makes it really special.\u201d
Senior guard Renee Rittmeyer has attended this event every year of her collegiate career and emphasized the impact that it has on the team\u2019s culture.
\u201cFamily is a huge part of our team and this event makes both family and the team come together,\u201d Rittmeyer said.
Another major benefit of the pig roast is the fundraising aspect. The Warhawks do a lot of traveling during the season and have numerous other expenses to account for, such as food and equipment.
\u201cEverything goes towards our team,\u201d Carollo said. \u201cIt goes towards travel expenses and everything else the team may or may not need.\u201d
The annual event has become a tradition to the team and women\u2019s basketball program. With the pig roast taking place during homecoming weekend it allows for a tailgate-style fundraiser that relates to the football program, which is an important part of campus life and culture.
\u201cI wanted to collaborate with the football team because we have such great crowds and such great atmosphere.\u201d Carollo said.
The atmosphere during the event was very energetic, especially since it was right before the football game against UW-Platteville, where the Warhawks defeated the Pioneers 29-19.
\u201cThe event is always super upbeat,\u201d Rittmeyer said. \u201cThe raffles are always super fun and people get very into the silent auction.\u201d
As the season opener approaches the Warhawks have put an emphasis on strengthening their connections with one another. The pig roast is a perfect opportunity to do just that.
\u201cThis event really makes us feel closer,\u201d sophomore guard Ashley Schlabowske said. \u201cWe\u2019re already a really connected team but this helps us bond even more especially with families.\u201d
The Warhawks have two more weeks of preparation before the season opener against Washington University in St. Louis Nov. 8. That time will be spent continuing to strengthen the team\u2019s chemistry, get reps through practicing and playing an exhibition match against the Milwaukee School of Engineering Oct. 31.
While the Warhawks are younger compared to the 2024-25 team, they\u2019ll be prepared for the season ahead of them.
\u201cWe have a young team,\u201d Carollo said. \u201cThey\u2019re willing to work hard and play hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UW-Whitewater women\u2019s basketball team faced the cold as they hosted their sixth-annual tailgate and pig roast fundraiser…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[145153,64,63,726,145154,145155,145156,85,129115,7062],"class_list":{"0":"post-243487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-ashley-schlabowske","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-keri-carollo","13":"tag-pig-roast","14":"tag-renee-rittmeyer","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uw-whitewater","17":"tag-womens-basketball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}