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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern women's basketball team continues its historic postseason run with their first Elite Eight appearance in school history, Tuesday night, March 26, in San Antonio against No. 5 Western Washington.
The Sharks (23-8) and Vikings (28-3), both top seeds and champions of their regions (South and West, respectively) will tip off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday from the Bill Greehey Arena. While the game, as always, can be heard live via
streaming audio on NSUSharks.com, fans also have two more options to catch the action:
a live video webcast on NCAA.com or at a watch party on NSU's main campus, at the Flight Deck in the Don Taft University Center.
Both teams swept through three region games held on their own home floor. NSU, the only unranked team of the final eight squads remaining, defeated Clark Atlanta, Rollins and Delta State by an average of nearly 22 points a game. In the South Region Championship, the Sharks topped a team with great tradition in those DSU Lady Statesmen, 78-56. In order to advance to the Final Four, they’ll have to knock off another perennial powerhouse in WWU.
The Vikings, ranked fifth in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, were nearly perfect in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, going 17-1 with the only blemish coming to eventual West Region finalist Simon Fraser on Feb. 9. That loss snapped an 11-game winning streak, and since that point, the Vikings have won their last 11 as well.
In the West Region, hosting games in Bellingham, Wash., WWU knocked off Academy of Art (70-50) and Cal State Monterey Bay (71-63) before avenging the regular-season loss to their Canadian rivals, Simon Fraser, 75-58.
The Vikings are led by West Region Player of the Year (and Daktronics third-team All-American) Britt Harris, their 6-2 senior center, who averages 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds a night while ranking third in the nation in field goal percentage at 59.7 percent. Meanwhile, senior guard Corinn Waltrip was named West Region Most Outstanding Player by scoring 29 points in the championship game to knock off the Clan. Waltrip is eighth in all of DII in 3-point percentage, making 42.3 percent of her long-range shots.
WWU, as a team, are in the nation’s top 10 in three different statistical categories: assists per game (third, 18.0), field goal percentage (sixth, 45.3%) and assist-turnover ratio (ninth, 1.1). They are also 16th in scoring margin and 18th in 3-point field goal percentage.
By the same token, the Sharks rank in the top 10 nationwide in five team categories: field goal percentage (third, 45.6%), 3-pointers per game (fourth, 8.8), scoring offense (fifth, 78.4), scoring margin (fifth, 16.8) and assists (ninth, 17.1).
Again, tipoff on Tuesday is 7 p.m. Eastern time from San Antonio. This will be the first time these two teams have ever met, and the winner will face the winner of the day’s final quarterfinal matchup, between two more No. 1 seeds (and top 10 teams): No. 2 Ashland and No. 7 Gannon. Here is the entire of Tuesday’s Elite Eight schedule (all times Eastern, ranking are from the latest USA Today Coaches’ Poll):
1 p.m. – No. 24 Augustana (27-6, Central No. 6 seed) vs. No. 1 Clayton State (32-0, Southeast No. 1 seed)
3:30 p.m. – No. 10 Dowling (28-3, East No. 3 seed) vs. No. 4 Colorado Mesa (31-1, South Central No. 1 seed)
7 p.m. –
Nova Southeastern (23-8, South No. 1 seed) vs. No. 5 Western Washington (28-3, West No. 1 seed)
9:30 p.m. – No. 7 Gannon (31-4, Atlantic No. 1 seed) vs. No. 2 Ashland (34-1, Midwest No. 1 seed)
The rest of the NCAA DII Basketball Championship schedule follows. All of these three games will be shown live on CBS Sports Network and on NCAA.com:
Wednesday, March 27
7 p.m. – Winner of Augustana/Clayton State vs. Winner of Dowling/Colorado Mesa
9:30 p.m. – Winner of Nova Southeastern/Western Washington vs. Winner of Gannon/Ashland
Friday, March 29
8 p.m. – National Championship, between the winners of Wednesday’s Final Four matchups
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by
clicking here.
