Eagles snare at-large bid to NCAA II Midwest Regional

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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball was one of the 64 teams selected to participate in the 2022 NCAA Division II Tournament in an announcement by the national office Sunday night on NCAA.com.

The Screaming Eagles (24-5) earned the No. 5 seed in the NCAA II Midwest Region Tournament, which will take place March 11-14 in Ashland, Ohio. USI will take on the No. 4 seed, Walsh University, in the opening round Friday at Kates Gymnasium.

Top-seeded Ashland University will host this year’s regional and will play No. 8-seeded Ferris State University in the opening round.

Other first round matchups include the No. 2 seed, Grand Valley State University, taking on the No. 7 seed, Wayne State University, while the No. 3 seed, Drury University, will battle the No. 6 seed, University of Missouri-St. Louis, in the first round.

Friday’s game marks the first-ever meeting between USI and Walsh, which was the runner up in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Ashland was the GMAC Tournament champions, while Ferris State earned the automatic qualifier from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after upsetting Grand Valley State in the championship.

Drury won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament title, while USI was the top-seed in the GLVC Tournament and is looking to rebound from a semifinal loss to Lewis University.

This year’s tournament marks the 12th time USI has been selected to compete in the NCAA II Tournament and the first time since 2020, when the regional was canceled due to COVID. USI last competed in the regional in 2018.