INDIANAPOLIS – Four Great Midwest Athletic Conference schools were represented in the first release of the women’s basketball NCAA Midwest Region rankings that was announced Wednesday.
The Midwest Region is comprised of the Great Midwest, Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
Eight teams from eight different regions will advance to the NCAA Championship bracket with each conference receiving one automatic qualifier by way of winning their respective conference tournament title.
The remaining bids for the regional bracket are distributed to five at-large selections, determined by the order of the final Midwest Region rankings.
Cedarville paces the Great Midwest with a No. 6 ranking in the Midwest Region
Injuries to key players around the league, most notably previous Great Midwest Athletes of the Week Regina Hochstetler (Cedarville) and Sarah Futscher (Ohio Dominican), have shuffled around a few rotations.
Six teams are currently in the postseason hunt with Great Midwest Championship bids already clinched. Two spots remain with just a couple games left in the regular season.
Cedarville paces the Great Midwest at No. 6 in the Midwest Region. The Yellow Jackets (19-5, 14-4 G-MAC) trail Ursuline by one game for the lead in the conference standings.
Sharpshooter Baylee Bennett initially set the G-MAC single-record with 11 made threes (tied nine days later by Davis & Elkins’ Aliyah Dukes). Breanne Watterworth joined the 1,000 point club, the fourth Yellow Jacket since 2012-13 to do so in league history.
Ursuline, ranked eighth in the Midwest Region, is in the driver’s seat to host the conference tournament again in Pepper Pike, Ohio. The Arrows (18-6, 15-3 G-MAC) have a huge showdown against Cedarville this evening as they look to extend a five-game win streak.
UC senior forward Laney Lewis has been drawing rave reviews all season for her proficiency in many different statistical categories. The Arrows are seeking their third consecutive NCAA Championship appearance.
Findlay checks in at ninth after the Oilers (18-6, 15-5 G-MAC) were in first place for a few weeks in the Great Midwest standings. Guard Haley Horstman also recently hit 1,000-point career milestone and long-range sniper Lynsey Englebrecht shattered the school’s single-season record for three’s. Ohio Dominican is trying to stop a two-game slide with four contests left to play before the conference tournament.
Alexa Fisher has scored a combined 45 points in her last two games as the Panthers (16-8, 12-6 G-MAC) look to overcome the loss of two-time athlete of the week Futscher, who went down in a scary moment at Cedarville.