Drury University will host the opening round of the men’s and women’s D-II national tournament this weekend…The Drury men are the defending national champs. (photo/Drury Athletics)
The fields are set for the Division II NCAA tournaments. On the men’s side, Missouri Southern won the MIAA Conference tournament, and received an automatic bid. Missouri schools with at-large bids include: Central Missouri, defending national champion Drury, and Northwest Missouri State. On the women’s side, Truman State won the Great Lakes Valley Tournament, they grab an automatic bid. Central Missouri, Drury, and Missouri St. Louis, gained at-large bids.
The eighth-ranked Jennies fell to No. 7 Emporia State, 75-71 in the MIAA Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon, but received their at-large bid. Missouri Southern shot .574 from the field as they claimed their first MIAA Tournament Championship since 2000. The Lions hit 10 three-pointers and got 28 points from their bench in the 84-72 victory over Central Oklahoma.
The Truman State woman got an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament with a 58-45 win over Maryville, Mo.
Central Missouri earns the #2 seed in the region and will face off with Arkansas Tech of the Great American Conference. Missouri Southern, who won the MIAA Tournament Championship, earns the third seed and will face Fort Hays State who grabbed the sixth seed. Northwest Missouriearns the fifth seed and will face Winona State of the Northern Sun Conference.
First-round pairings for the NCAA-II men’s Midwest Regional on Saturday in Springfield, hosted by Drury, will match third-seed Southern Indiana (25-5) against No. 6 seed Michigan Tech (22-7) at noon, No. 2 seed Indianapolis (23-4) vs. No. 7 seed Bellarmine (23-7) at 2:30 p.m., Drury-Parkside at 6 and then No. 4 seed Findlay (24-5) vs. No. 5 seed Lake Superior State (26-5) at 8:30.
The Truman Women’s Basketball team was seeded eighth and will play host Drury (Mo.) in the first round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional on Friday in Springfield. The Panthers (24-3) won the GLVC West Division this past season and were knocked out of the GLVC tournament by Maryville in the quarterfinals 56-55. UMSL was selected as the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region and will face No. 2 seed Lewis.
Central Missouriearned a bid as the third seed to the NCAA Division II Central Regional which will take place in Searcy, AR. The Jennies will play sixth seeded Northern State in the opening round.
