By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
INDIANAPOLIS – The Fort Hays State women’s basketball team is again ranked first in the third release of the 2022 NCAA Division II Central Region rankings, distributed on Wednesday (March 2) by the NCAA office.
There was some shuffling in the ranks behind the Tigers, with Southwestern Oklahoma State jumping from No. 4 to No. 2 this week. St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth slid one spot to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Missouri Southern held firm at No. 5, while No. 6 Nebraska-Kearney switched places with No. 7 Minnesota State Mankato. Missouri Western and Central Missouri held steady at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, while Concordia-St. Paul entered the rankings for the first time at No. 10.
The MIAA still tops the region with five teams, with the Northern Sun up to four teams this week and the Great American Conference down to just one representative in SWOSU. This week’s rankings include games through Sunday, February 27, and as a result do not include St. Cloud State’s loss to Minnesota Duluth in the NSIC Championship Game. Fort Hays State now has a full game lead over the rest of the region in the loss column, with SWOSU, SCSU and UMD all with four losses each. The Tigers once again have the top RPI and the top performance indicator in the region.
This year’s NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship will be back to a full field of 64 teams made up of eight eight-team regionals. The top seed in each region will have the opportunity to host the first three rounds of the tournament (March 11-14) before the eight regional champions meet up in Birmingham, Ala. for the Elite Eight (March 21-25).
In the Central Region, the conference tournament champions from the MIAA, NSIC (Minnesota Duluth) and GAC receive an automatic bid with the rest of the field filled with the top five remaining teams at-large.
Final selections for the 2022 NCAA Division II Central Region Championships will be announced on Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.