If you watched them practice, you 'd swear Dana Thompson and Tiffany Morton were sworn enemies.

And maybe they are for two or three hours each day. After all, as roommates, it's nice to let out some steam after one or the other forgets to wash the dishes or clean the living room.

But for these UW-Whitewater women's basketball teammates, there's a method behind the madness.

"We get after each other in practice," Morton said. "We make it hard for each other to score. We make it hard to rebound. We make it hard for each other to walk out without any pain.

"But it's all about making each other better. And afterwards, she's my best friend again."

Whether they're going at it in practice or joking around at home on the couch, Thompson, a former Belleville athlete, and Morton, a former Beloit Memorial athlete, have formed quite a tandem.

"Practice with (Tiffany) is harder than the game," Thompson said laughing. "Hating each other for ticky-tack fouls is good for us. We're there to help the other get better."

That they have. And with Morton as the starter and Thompson as her primary backup, the Warhakws (28-3) and coach Keri Carollo have found the perfect blend on the front line, thanks in large part to Thompson's emergence this season.

"Dana's role is that she's our starter off the bench," Carollo said. "She and Tiffany basically split minutes, but one of them has to start. We look at Dana as being as solid as Tiffany when she's out on the floor and that's a direct result of the transformation she's made from her freshman to sophomore year."

Thompson has appeared in all 31 games for Whitewater this season, and she will more than likely make it 32 when the Warhawks face Howard Payne (31-0) Friday in an NCAA Division III national semifinal in Holland, Mich.

"She gets significant minutes, and she always comes up big," Carollo said of Thompson, who averages 8.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in just over 16 minutes a game.

Those minutes are indeed significant for Thompson, who, as a role player, tries to make the most of them each night.

"As athletes, we need to know where we stand and what role we play," said Thompson, who also competes in the discus for the Whitewater track and field team but because of the Warhawks' trip to the Final Four has missed the beginning of the season. "I feel that I know my role and that I try to succeed as the sixth man or whatever it is I have to do."

Carollo trusts Thompson so much that she called her number in the waning moments of Saturday's win over defending national champion DePauw. In a tie game, Thompson posted up her defender and was fouled with 31.6 seconds left. She split a pair of free throws to give the Warhawks the lead for good.

"She's much more confident in her game, and I think she wants the ball in clutch situations," Carollo said of Thompson, who averaged 5.5 points per game last season. "She got the ball in a big situation last Saturday, and handled it perfectly."

Morton, too, has benefited from Thompson's improved play.

"Every game we've played this year has been physical down low," said Morton, who is averaging 14.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. "And practice has prepared us for all of those regular season games. It's helped me be able to go strong and finish around the basket more often."

Morton and Thompson will have to be strong and physical against Howard Payne's Kimberly Hoffman and Stacey Blalock, who are 5-foot-10 and 6-2, respectively.

They have posed such a problem for other teams that Carollo has toyed with the idea of playing Morton and Thompson on the floor at the same time, something she rarely does.

"We want to start doing more of that. Based on the size that Howard Payne brings, playing them together is something that we can use to combat that size," Carollo said. "But Lindsey (Buechner) is sometimes prone to foul trouble, so it's nice to have Dana be available off the bench, too. If we can get after (Howard Payne) and press them, then we really won't feel the need to play them together."

If they do end up on the floor together Friday, Thompson believes it won't be difficult.

"It will be just like practice," she said.