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EDINBORO, PA – Both the Edinboro
University men’s and women’s basketball teams are headed
to the big dance. It was announced this evening that both were
selected for the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
There was no suspense for the men, since they
clinched the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s
automatic bid with a 52-51 win over Shippensburg on Saturday night
in the PSAC Championship game. The Fighting Scots became the first
PSAC team since 1983 to win back-to-back PSAC crowns. The women
had to sweat it out a little bit longer after suffering a 63-59
loss to California(Pa.) in the women’s title game, but the
wait was well worth it as they were chosen for the NCAA Playoffs
for the first time since 1998.
The victory over Shippensburg boosted the men’s
basketball team’s record to 21-9. The Fighting Scots have won
their last three games and six of their last seven. Head coach
Greg Walcavich’s team will be making its second straight trip
to the NCAA Playoffs and the fifth in 17 seasons as the head coach
at Edinboro.
Barton College, located in Wilson, NC, is
hosting the East Regional. The Fighting Scots are seeded seventh
and will face West Virginia State in the first round. The Yellow
Jackets captured the automatic bid out of the West Virginia
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference thanks to a 69-67 win over
Salem International in the championship. West Virginia State has a
26-6 record and is seeded second. The two will meet at 2:30 p.m.
on Saturday, March 11 at Barton’s Wilson Gym. The semifinals
are slated for Sunday, March 12, with the championship game on
Tuesday, March 14.
Barton (25-3) is the number one seed and will
meet eighth seed Wheeling Jesuit (21-8) at 8:30 p.m. The regional
gets underway at 1:00 p.m. with Alderson-Broaddus (22-6), the
third seed, opposing sixth seed Salem International (22-7) at 12
noon. The other semifinal game matches fourth seed Shippensburg
(24-6) against Mount Olive (24-6), the number five seed, at 6:00
p.m.
The women’s basketball team has an
identical 21-9 record, with the loss to California(Pa.) snapping a
four-game winning streak. This will mark the sixth trip to the
NCAA Playoffs under head coach Stan Swank, who is completing his
19th campaign.
The Fighting Scots are seeded eighth and will
face top-seed Charleston(WV), the top seed after winning the West
Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship on
Saturday. The Golden Eagles, ranked sixth in last week’s USA
Today/ESPN/WBCA Division II Coaches Poll, handily disposed of
fourth-ranked Glenville State, 81-59, in the WVIAC championship
game.
Charleston will host the East Regional at Eddie
King Gymnasium beginning Friday, March 10. At 1:00 p.m., the
regional gets underway with the third seed, Anderson (SC), with a
record of 26-4, playing West Liberty State (24-6), the sixth seed.
The second game in the afternoon tips off at 3:00 p.m. between
Glenville State (28-2), the second seed, and seventh seed Barton
(23-7). Edinboro and Charleston will play at 6:00 p.m., with
California(Pa.) (26-4), the fourth seed, meeting fifth seed
Wheeling Jesuit (26-4).
The semifinals are set for Saturday, March 11,
and the finals are Monday, March 13.
The Edinboro women’s team has made one
trip to the Elite Eight, that coming in 1996-97. The men’s
team has never reached the Elite Eight.
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