The Gustavus women’s basketball team received word on Sunday night that it has received an invitation to participate in the 2006-07 NCAA Division III National Tournament. Coach Mickey Haller’s squad, which has compiled a record of 22-5, received an at-large bid to the tournament after falling 56-54 to St. Ben’s in the MIAC Post-Season Tournament. The Gusties will travel to Newberg, Oregon and play host George Fox University on Friday.
The University of Puget Sound (Wash.), 21-6, will face McMurry University (Abilene, Texas), 24-4 at 5:30 pm (Pacific Standard Time), while Gustavus will face host George Fox University (18-6) in the other game at approximately 7:30 pm on Friday evening. The winners will play on Saturday evening at 7:30 (PST) for the right to advance to the Sweet Sixteen at a site to be determined.
This is the fourth time that the Gustavus women’s basketball program has received an invitation to the NCAA Tournament (1990-91, 1994-95, 2002-03, and now 2006-07). In March of 2003, the Gusties defeated Loras in a first round game at Gustavus, before losing to Pacific Lutheran University in the second round. The Gusties have compiled an all-time mark of 1-3 in NCAA Tournament play.
The following release is from the NCAA in announcing the tournament field:
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Committee announced today the field of 63 teams for the 2007 championship.
Thirty-nine conferences have been awarded automatic qualification for the 2007 championship. Four teams were selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions, and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final 20 berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams.
One first-round game will be conducted February 28, one second-round game will be conducted March 3 and 15 first/second-round games will be conducted March 2-3. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites March 9-10. Winners of the four sectional games will advance to the national semi-finals March 16-17. All games, except the finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals will be conducted at Blake Arena, Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Conferences and Teams Receiving Automatic Qualification (39):
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference: Medaille
American Southwest Conference: Howard Payne
Atlantic Women’s Colleges Conference: Notre Dame (Maryland)
Capital Athletic Conference: Mary Washington
Centennial Conference: Ursinus
City University of New York Athletic Conference: Lehman
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin: Wheaton (Illinois)
Commonwealth Conference: Messiah
Commonwealth Coast Conference: Salve Regina
Empire 8: Ithaca
Freedom Conference: Scranton
Great Northeast Athletic Conference: Emmanuel (Massachusetts)
Great South Athletic Conference: Piedmont
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference: Manchester
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Luther
Liberty League: Hamilton
Little East Conference: Southern Maine
Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference: Fitchburg State
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association: Hope
Midwest Conference: Lake Forest
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: St. Benedict
New England Small College Athletic Conference: Bowdoin
New England Women’s and Men’s Athletics Conference: Mount Holyoke
New Jersey Athletic Conference: Kean
North Atlantic Conference: Maine-Farmington
North Coast Athletic Conference: Denison
North Eastern Athletic Conference: Keuka
Northwest Conference: George Fox
Ohio Athletic Conference: Wilmington (Ohio)
Old Dominion Athletic Conference: Randolph-Macon
Pennsylvania Athletic Conference: Gywnedd-Mercy
Skyline Conference: Mount St. Mary (N.Y.)
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Maryville (Missouri)
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: La Verne
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference: DePauw
State University of New York Athletic Conference: Cortland State
University Athletic Association: Washington U. in St. Louis
USA South Athletic Conference: Christopher Newport
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Wisconsin-Stout
Pool B Berths (4):
Chapman
Concordia (Wisconsin)
Thomas More
Westminster (Pennsylvania)
Pool C Berths (20):
Brandeis
Calvin
Carroll (Wisconsin)
Dickinson
Gustavus Adolphus
Illinois Wesleyan
Keene State
Maine Maritime
McDaniel
McMurry
New York University
Norwich
Oglethorpe
Puget Sound
Rochester
Simpson
St. Lawrence
Transylvania
William Paterson
Williams