Women's Basketball Southern Conference

Four SoCon Basketball Teams Will Compete in Post Season Tournaments

Four SoCon teams from three schools
will compete in post season!
ASHEVILLE, NC -- Four Southern Conference basketball teams from three schools will compete in post season tournament action starting this Wednesday.

The Davidson Wildcats, Chattanooga Lady Mocs, UNC Greensboro Spartans and UNC Greensboro's women will represent the SoCon in the NCAA's, NIT, and WNIT championships.

Davidson earned the conference's men's basketball automatic bid by defeating Furman 62-57 in the finals of the Mountain Dew Southern Conference Basketball Championships a week ago at the North Charleston Coliseum. This is Davidson's seventh trip to the "Big Dance" and its first since 1998.

The 'Cats enter the NCAA field of 64 as a number 13 seed and will have to travel to "The Pit" in Albuquerque, NM. Davidson's first round opponent is number four seeded, Ohio State. The Buckeyes captured the 2002 Big 10 tournament championship Sunday with an 81-64 victory over Iowa at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. OSU is 23-7 overall and finished in a four-way tie for the regular season Big 10 title with a record of 11-5.

The 'Cats and Buckeyes will square off Thursday in New Mexico.

The Lady Mocs of UTC earned the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament by defeating UNC Greensboro, 77-69, in the finals of the Mountain Dew Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championships in Charleston, SC.

UTC will make its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. The Lady Mocs will take on Big 10 foe Penn State on Friday in State College, PA. Chattanooga is also a number 13 seed facing the fourth-seeded Lady Nittany Lions.

The game will be a homecoming of sorts for Chattanooga senior Damita Bullock, who prepped at Harrisburg (Pa.) High School, which is about an hour from Penn State's campus in State College.

Southern Conference postseason action kicks off on Wednesday, however, when the UNC Greensboro Spartans travel to Blacksburg, VA, in the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

UNCG (21-9) earned an at-large bid into the WNIT. They will have to face the Virginia Tech Hokies.

The Spartan men will travel to Memphis to take on Conference USA Freshman of the Year, Dajuan Wagner and the Memphis Tigers at The Pyramid Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 pm.

UNC Greensboro is 20-10 on the year and suffered a 68-58 loss to Southern Conference champion Davidson in the SoCon Tournament. The Spartans posted an 11-5 conference record. Last season, UNCG won the Southern Conference Tournament and played Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. This will be the Spartans first NIT appearance.

Memphis, who was predicted in early season to make a run at the C-USA title and be a force in the NCAA's, finished the year with a 22-9 record.


SoCon Post-Season Games in Brief

Wednesday, March 13, 7:00 pm
UNC Greensboro (women) (21-9) at Virginia Tech (18-10)

Thursday, March 14 at approx. 3:10 pm EST
Davidson (21-9) vs. Ohio State (23-7)
in Alburquerque, NM

Thursday, March 14 at 7:00 pm
UNC Greensboro (20-10) at Memphis (22-9)
UNC Greensboro

Friday, March 15 at approx. 7:30 pm
Chattanooga (23-7) at Penn State (21-11)
in State College, PA