March 11, 2007
Upsets Highlighting NCAA Tournament
Two No. 1 Sees Already Out; No Repeat Champ;
Kearney, Neb. – During the course of the 2006-07 regular season in women's NCAA Division II basketball, little changed at the top.
In the NCAA regional rankings, six of the top teams that debuted in the No. 1 spot remained their all season long. The two teams that dropped only went down one or two spots.
Fittingly, the NCAA Tournament has seen several big upsets, with No. 1 and No. 2 seeds having already fallen by the wayside.
On Monday night (March 12th), regional champions will be crowned with the eight winners heading to Kearney the following week for the Elite Eight (March 21-22 & 24).
In the first round this past Friday (march 9th), eight lower seeds won games. They included Gannon U. of Pennsylvania, a 6th seed, knocking out defending national champion Grand Valley State, 66-59.
Also in the Great Lakes, 7th-seed Ferris State of Michigan beat 2nd-seed and 2000 National Champ Northern Kentucky, 70-69.
The FSU Bulldogs kept their run alive by beating Gannon on Saturday, 80-61.
It appears to be the year for the 7th seed as Pittsburgh-Johnstown upset 2nd-seed Pfeiffer (N.C.), 71-58, in the East Region while Elite Eight-host Nebraska-Kearney ended a nine-year NCAA losing streak by stunning 2nd-seed Augustana, 75-68.
UPJ's season came to a close Saturday when it lost to 3rd-seed Indiana of Pennsylvania, 75-59, but UNK's run continued with a 92-89 overtime thriller vs. Concordia-St. Paul.
The Golden Bears pulled a surprise of their own when they knocked out 3rd-seed South Dakota, 82-74, in round one.
Down in the South Atlantic Region, Georgia College & State U. upset 3rd-seed Wingate (N.C.) in round one, 87-67, and then beat 2nd-seed North Carolina Central, 72-63, on Saturday.
Earlier this season, Wingate was ranked No. 1 in the South Atlantic.
Texas A&M-Commerce is the talk of the South Central Region after knocking off 4th-seed Emporia State, 81-77, and top seed Missouri Western State, 73-72.
ESU was ranked No. 1 in the WBCA poll early in the year while Mo. Western has been in the top 10 nationally all winter.
Another No. 1 seed and regional host fell on Saturday when 2004 national runner up Drury (Mo.) beat Lewis (Ill.), 67-62.
Two regions have held to form. In the Northeast, host Southern Connecticut State will battle No. 2 seed an Elite 8 veteran Bentley while top seed UC San Diego will square off against second seed Cal State Chico.
In the early region rankings, Chico was the top team in the West.
Below are the eight regional championship games. Go to www.ncaasports.com for complete updates Monday night.
Region Top Seed/School (Record) Low Seed/School (Record)
North Central # 1/North Dakota (31-3) # 7/Nebraska-Kearney (22-9)
South # 1/Florida Gulf Coast (31-0) # 2/Delta State, Miss. (28-3)
South Central # 2/Washburn, Kans. (29-3) # 5/Texas A & M-Commerce (27-8)
South Atlantic # 1/Clayton State, Ga. (27-5) # 6/Georgia College & State (21-9)
East # 1/Glenville State, W.V. (32-2) # 3/Indiana of Pa. (24-8) - Glenville made the 2006 Elite 8
West # 1/UC San Diego (25-4) # 2/Cal State Chico (24-4) - Chico made the 2006 Elite 8
Northeast # 1/So. Conn. State (30-2) # 2/Bentley, Mass. (23-7)
Great Lakes # 4/Drury, Mo. (24-8) # 7/Ferris State, Mich. (23-8)
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Contact: Peter Yazvac
yazvacpa@unk.edu |