Women's Basketball Southern Conference

Mountain Dew SoCon Tournaments Start Thursday

ASHEVILLE, NC -- The 81st edition of the Mountain Dew Southern Conference Basketball Championships gets underway on Thursday, March 1 in Greenville, SC. The tournament champion from both the mens and womens tournament will earn the SoCons automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The mens tournament will be held at the BI-LO Center in downtown Greenville. The first two rounds of the womens tournament will be played at Timmons Arena on the Furman University campus before moving to the BI-LO Center on Saturday, March 3.

The mens tournament starts on Thursday, March 1 with four games starting at noon. The number four seed from the North Division, Davidson, will meet #5 South seed Wofford at 12:00. Thirty minutes following the conclusion of that game, #3 South seed The Citadel will host #6 North seed Western Carolina.

Thursdays evening session will start at 6 p.m. with #4 South seed Georgia Southern hosting VMI. The second game of the evening session features #3 North Appalachian State against #6 South Furman.

On Friday, March 2, the top two seeds from each division begin play in the tournament. At noon, South Division champion College of Charleston will play the winner of the Davidson-Wofford game. The second game of the afternoon session features the second seed from the North, UNC Greensboro, against the winner of The Citadel-Western Carolina contest.

The evening session starts at 6 p.m. with North Division champion East Tennessee State hosting the Georgia Southern-VMI winner. Friday concludes with Chattanooga, the second seed from the South, playing the Appalachian-Furman victor.

Saturdays semifinals begin at 6:00 p.m. and Sundays championship game will begin at 3:30 p.m.

All Friday, Saturday and Sunday games will be televised to either a regional or national audience. The quarterfinals and semifinal games will be carried live on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS). Sundays title game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

The womens tournament also begins play on Thursday at Timmons Arena with a single evening session. At 5:00 p.m. eighth seed Wofford plays ninth seed Davidson followed by #7 College of Charleston against #10 Appalachian State.

Two seeds are yet to be determined as Furman and East Tennessee State tangle on Monday, Feb. 26.

Fridays womens quarterfinals will be start at 11:00 a.m. at Timmons Arena with #4 Furman playing the fifth-seed, which is yet to be determined. The second game of the afternoon session features #1 seed Chattanooga against the Wofford-Davidson winner.

Fridays evening session at Timmons pits #2 Georgia Southern against the Charleston-Appalachian winner at 5:00 p.m. followed by #3 UNCG against the yet to be determined sixth seed.

The womens tournament shifts to the BI-LO Center for Saturdays semifinals which begin at noon. Both semifinals games will be carried live on CSS. The championship game for the womens tournament begins at 12:30 on Sunday, March 4 and will also be carried live on CSS.

Tickets for the tournament are available at the BI-LO Center Box Office or by visiting the Ticketmaster website at ticketmaster.com. Tickets are priced at $90 for an all-tournament booklet with $18 reserved seats on a per-session basis. General admission seats are available at $15 per session. Each Southern Conference institution also has tickets available. Group discounts and student discounts are available through the BI-LO Center Box Office at (864) 250-4845 or through each campus ticket office.