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March 9, 2008
Fresh off its second straight PSAC championship, the IUP women's basketball team has been selected to host the NCAA Division II East Region tournament beginning Friday. The Crimson Hawks are the top seed in the tournament and will be attempting to win the region title for the first time since 1999. IUP earned its No. 1 ranking and host opportunity after rallying for a 67-63 win over California in the PSAC championship game on Saturday. IUP, which has already set a school record with 27 wins this season against only four defeats, will face Mount Olive in the quarterfinals on Friday at 5:30. The Trojans (20-10) upset Anderson in the final of the Conference Carolinas tournament to receive an automatic bid. This will be the first meeting between IUP and Mount Olive in women's basketball, and Mount Olive is making its NCAA tournament debut. IUP, ranked 16th in the nation, is making its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and fifth overall. A year ago in Glenville, W.Va., the Crimson Hawks defeated Barton and Pitt Johnstown before dropping a narrow 65-59 decision to second-ranked Glenville State in the Sweet 16. In 1999, IUP won the East Region title and advanced to the Elite Eight with wins over Millersville and Shippensburg the only other time it was held in Indiana. IUP also qualified the following year, losing to Millersville in the semifinals, and made its first appearance in the regional tournament in 1988. In the other quarterfinal games on Friday, No. 2 seed California (24-6) faces No. 7 Millersville (24-5) at 12:30 in a rematch of a PSAC tournament semifinal game won by the Vulcans; No. 3 Anderson (27-3) meets No. 6 Fairmont State (25-6), the champion of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, at 2:30; and No. 4 West Liberty State (24-5) takes on No. 5 Shepherd (22-6) at 7:30. The California-Millersville and Anderson-Fairmont State games will be played in session one of the tournament Friday afternoon. The IUP-Mount Olive and West Liberty State-Shepherd games will be played Friday evening in session two. The semifinals on Saturday will pit the California-Millersville winner against the Anderson-Fairmont State winner and the IUP-Mount Olive winner against the West Liberty State-Shepherd winner. After taking Sunday off, the semifinal winners will play for the region championship Monday at 7 p.m. |
