Interactive NCAA DII Championship Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS - An exciting announcement unfolded late Sunday night as the Great Midwest Athletic Conference learned Malone and Ursuline would be represented in the field of 64 for the NCAA II Championship Women's Basketball Midwest Regional.
This represents the first time in league history a sport has had two different NCAA Championship regional qualifiers. G-MAC women's basketball enjoyed a banner year featuring five teams with 19 wins or more in the 2016-17 campaign.
Conference tournament champion Malone is one of 24 automatic qualifiers while G-MAC Championship runner-up Ursuline earned one of the 40 at-large bids as decided by the tournament selection committee.
The conference tournament concluded in Pepper Pike, Ohio, on Saturday before the bracket was publicly unveiled.
The Midwest Regional will be hosted at No. 1 seed Ashland University for the second consecutive year.
Both Malone (23-6) and Ursuline (23-7) will play on Friday, March 10. Malone will play at 5 p.m. EST and Ursuline will be tipping off at 7:30 p.m. EST in Kates Gymnasium.
If both teams win their opening-round contest, they would be on a collision course to meet in the second round for the fourth time this season.
The Pioneers of Malone earned the No. 8 seed in the regional this year in their first season with the G-MAC and drew the assignment of facing undefeated Ashland (31-0) from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
Malone heads to the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional having won 11 straight. The Pioneers entered the year as relatively unknown after being picked sixth (of 8) in the G-MAC Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour, but quickly turned heads as the season progressed.
Ursuline's body of work throughout the entire season and last year's impressive NCAA Midwest Regional showing was rewarded by the committee as the Arrows were placed with a No. 4 seed.
UC will meet another GLIAC opponent with Grand Valley State as the No. 5 seed. The Arrows had won 16 straight before having that streak halted by Malone as Ursuline returns as an NCAA qualifier for the second consecutive season.
Other first-round matchups in the NCAA DII Midwest Regional include Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) members No. 2 Drury vs. No. 7 Bellarmine and the No. 3/6 matchup pits Saginaw Valley State (GLIAC) vs. Lewis (GLVC).