SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Lady Panthers received a number three seed in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional and will play Missouri-St. Louis in the opening round of the national championship tournament on Friday at 11 a.m. (Central) in Ashland, Ohio.
Drury is 31-4 and received an automatic bid after winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship on Sunday with a 76-47 win over Lewis in the league title game.
The Lady Panthers will be making their 19th national tournament appearance in the 22-year history of the program. Drury is 35-17 all-time in the national tournament with five regional championships, three national semifinal appearances, and two national runner-up finishes. Last year, the Lady Panthers won the Midwest Regional and reached the National Championship game in Columbus, Ohio.
Drury’s game against Missouri-St. Louis will come just six days after the Lady Panthers’ 64-54 win over the Tritons in the GLVC Tournament semifinals. UMSL is 23-5 and defeated Drury 75-65 on Feb. 4 in St. Louis before losing to the Lady Panthers on Saturday in Edwardsville.
The Lady Panthers will be making their fifth trip to Ashland for an NCAA regional. Drury is 6-4 at Kates Gym and has reached the regional final there three times.
Ashland (28-2) was awarded the regional host and the top-seeded Eagles will play eighth-seeded Ferris State (22-9) on Friday. Number four seed Walsh (26-4) will play fifth-seeded Southern Indiana (23-5) on Friday in the regional quarterfinals, and second-seeded Grand Valley State (27-2) will face number seven seed Wayne State (18-9) in the other quarterfinal game.
The winner of the Drury-UMSL game will play the winner of the Grand Valley State and Wayne State in the regional semifinals on Saturday. The regional championship game is Monday, March 14, at 6 pm (Central).
The Midwest Regional champion will advance to the NCAA-II Elite Eight in Birmingham, Alabama, March 21-25.
The region features three teams ranked in the NCAA-II top 10 and four nationally-ranked squads. Grand Valley State is ranked second nationally, Ashland is ranked number four, the Lady Panthers are eighth, and Walsh is ranked number 15.
NCAA-II Midwest Regional Schedule (all times Central)
Quarterfinals
Fri., March 11, 11 am- #3 DRURY vs. #6 Missouri-St. Louis
Fri., March 11, 1:30 pm- #2 Grand Valley St. vs. #7 Wayne St.
Fri., March 11, 4 pm- #1 Ashland vs. #8 Ferris St.
Fri., March 11, 6:30 pm- #4 Walsh vs. #5 Southern Indiana
Semifinals
Sat., March 12, 4 pm- DU/UMSL vs. GVSU/WSU
Sat., March 12- 6:30 pm- AU/FSU vs. WU/USI
Championship
Mon., March 14, 6 pm
