FERRIS EARNS NCAA DIVISION II NATIONAL TOURNAMENT BID

Bulldogs To Face Ashland In Great Lakes Region Quarterfinals

The Ferris State University women's basketball team received its second-ever NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament bid Sunday (March 7) in an announcement made during the NCAA-II Selection Show on College Sports Television.

FSU, which is presently 21-9 overall, is the region's third seed and will face sixth-seeded Ashland this Friday (March 12) at 12 p.m. (CST) in Quincy, Ill. Quincy University earned the top seed and will serve as the tournament host with the games to be played in QU's 2,000-seat Pepsi Arena.

Friday's Ferris State game will not be available for live radio broadcast, but could be available on the internet (www.ferris.edu/sports) as details are still being worked out. Coverage of FSU’s NCAA Tournament games beyond Friday would be carried live by local radio station WBRN-1460 AM and accessible via the internet by clicking on the Bulldog Athletics Webcast icon at www.ferris.edu/sports. Rob Bentley of the FSU Athletics Communications Office will handle the play-by-play coverage.

In addition to the Bulldogs and Ashland, Lake Superior State of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) also received a tourney berth by virtue of claiming the league's automatic bid. The Lakers are seeded second in the eight-team field and will meet seventh-seeded Southern Indiana in Friday's second quarterfinal round game at 2:30 p.m. (CST).

The other quarterfinal round games Friday feature host Quincy versus eighth-seeded Northern Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. (CST) and fourth-seeded Indianapolis taking on fifth-seeded Bellarmine (Ky.) in the 8 p.m. (CST) nightcap.

The winners of Friday's four quarterfinal round games will advance to Saturday's (March 13) semifinals with the championship game set for Monday, March 15. The winner of the Ferris/Ashland game will play the winner of the LSSU/UIS game Saturday at 5 p.m. (CST) with the winner of the QU/NKU game facing the winner of the UI/Bellarmine game at 7:30 p.m. (CST). Monday's title game tips off at 7 p.m. (CST).

The Great Lakes Regional champion will then advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight set for March 24-27 in St. Joseph, Mo.

General admission public ticket sales begin Wednesday (March 10) from 9 a.m. (CST) to 6 p.m. (CST) and are available during the same time Thursday. Tickets will be available Friday beginning at 11 a.m. (CST) and continue all day at the door. No tickets will be sold over the phone.

Ticket prices for Friday's opening round are $10 for reserved chairbacks, $8 for reserved bleacher seats, $6 for general admission and $3 for students. The prices for both Saturday and Monday will be $8 (chairbacks), $6 (bleachers), $5 (general admission) and $3 (students). Three-day tournament passes are also being sold for $20 (chairback), $15 (bleachers), $12 (general admission) and $9 (students). For further information about ticket sales, please call (217) 228-5290.

Friday's contest represents the third meeting between the Bulldogs and Eagles this campaign. Ferris registered an 85-81 regular-season road win at Ashland (Dec. 6) and beat the Eagles 86-80 in overtime this past Friday (March 5) in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

The Bulldogs made their first NCAA-II appearance during the 1999-00 campaign and dropped 90-77 decision to Missouri-St. Louis (3/9/00) in the opening round of the Great Lakes Regional held at Highland Heights, Ky.

The official tournament brackets can be found by visiting this link: