NCAA Regional Rankings (Feb. 19)


INDIANAPOLIS – The Walsh and Kentucky Wesleyan women’s basketball programs, both nationally ranked, are also newly ranked together in the Midwest Region in the first set published by the NCAA on Wednesday.
 
The Great Midwest Athletic Conference is competing for NCAA Championship bids along with the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
 
Each conference receives one automatic qualifying berth and five at-large selections will be made by the national committee through the Midwest Region rankings.

Walsh and Kentucky Wesleyan are bookends in the first Midwest Region rankings, at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Drury (GLVC), Ashland (GLIAC) and Grand Valley State (GLIAC), are the current top three.
 
Walsh is ranked by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) for the sixth consecutive week, this time sitting idle at No. 11.
 
The Cavaliers are bidding to be the fourth team from the Midwest Region ranking in the top 10 nationally along with No. 1 Drury, No. 2 Ashland and No. 6 Grand Valley State.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan elevated its position in the WBCA Top 25 by four spots, making the move up to No. 18. The Panthers have secured a spot in the national rankings for three consecutive weeks with just one loss on the season.
 
Walsh is winners of 18 straight games and Kentucky Wesleyan is riding a streak of 11 consecutive victories. KWC’s lone loss of the season has come at the hands of Walsh – virtually the only thing separating the two programs from each other in the conference point rating system totals.
 
Eight teams from the women’s hoops standings are vying to make the postseason and the Great Midwest Championship tournament.
 
All tournament seeding will be based off of the final point rating system scoring. Only the winning percentage from the conference standings will be used to determine the Great Midwest regular season champion. In the event of a tie, co-champions would be declared.