The Missouri State Lady Bears (23-9) earned a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament after capturing the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid, and will open their 15th NCAA appearance Saturday, March 23, against sixth-seeded DePaul in Ames Iowa. The game is slated for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off and will air on ESPN2.

The other half of the bracket in Ames is third-seeded Iowa State and No. 14 New Mexico State. The winners will play on March 25, and the champion of the four-team sub-regional advances to the Chicago Regional for the third and fourth rounds March 30 and April 1.

Missouri State finished second in the MVC with a 16-2 league record and won its 11th league tournament title Sunday afternoon with a 94-79 victory over top-seeded and 21st-ranked Drake

Drake will be the Missouri Tigers opponent in Iowa City, Iowa.  The Tigers are the No. 7 seed and the Bulldogs the No. 10 seed in a first-round matchup at approximately 3 p.m. Friday.  If Missouri wins that game, they will face the winner of 2-seed Iowa and 15-seed Mercer on Sunday for a chance at a berth in the Sweet Sixteen.