FHSU Sports Information Department
The 2016 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament field was announced on Sunday night (Mar. 6). Fort Hays State has been tabbed as the No. 5 seed in the Central Regional and will take on No. 4 seed Winona State in the opening round on Friday, March 11 in Pittsburg, Kan. Fort Hays State is one of four teams from the MIAA in the Central Region field.
The Tigers will be making their second consecutive appearance in an NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Last year, the FHSU women made just their second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament and back that up with another selection this year. FHSU advanced to the regional final last year on its home floor as the top seed in the region.
This year, the Tigers found themselves in a five-way battle for the top seed in the regional. Entering the final week of play as the No. 5 ranked team in the region, Emporia State won the MIAA Tournament and made an amazing leap all the way to the No. 1 seed. However, since Emporia State’s home arena is a city-owned facility, White Auditorium is hosting the Kansas high school state basketball championships. Therefore the regional will be played on No. 2 seeded Pittsburg State’s home floor in Pittsburg, Kan. This is not the first time this has happened to Emporia State when it has claimed the No. 1 seed in the region. Pittsburg State entered the week in the driver’s seat to host and still gets that right even though it lost to Emporia State in the MIAA Tournament Final.
So, with the shake up in the top five rankings, Winona State fell from No. 2 in the region rankings to the No. 4 seed with its loss in the NSIC Tournament semifinals. The Warriors will now face the Tigers in the opening round. The regional will be exciting as all four match-ups in the first round pit two different conferences against each other. There are three MIAA vs. NSIC match-ups and one MIAA vs. GAC match-up. Arkansas Tech is the only school from the Great American Conference among the field of eight teams in the regional.
Game times of the opening round match-ups will be announced by the host schools early this week. Game times will be posted on the match-ups below when they come available.
Here are the pairings for the first round…
#1 Emporia State vs. #8 Northern State
#4 Winona State vs. #5 Fort Hays State
#3 Missouri Western vs. #6 Arkansas Tech
#2 Pittsburg State vs. #7 Sioux Falls
All opening round games will be played on Friday, March 11. Semifinals will be on Saturday, March 12 and the Regional Final will be on Monday, March 14.