INDIANAPOLIS – The Valdosta State women’s basketball team remained the top team in the newest NCAA South Region rankings, released Wednesday by the NCAA. This is the final public ranking, prior to the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Selection Show, scheduled for Sunday evening at 10:30 p.m. ET and broadcast on NCAA.com.
VSU won a 54-52 thriller on “Super Tuesday” for the quarterfinal round of the Gulf South Conference championship, advancing to the league semifinals Saturday at 1 p.m. ET versus Auburn Montgomery at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala. The Lady Blazers are 27-2 overall and went 23-1 in GSC play this season.
The GSC Championship Central webpage can be accessed by clicking here with links to live stats, streaming and more. Saturday’s contest will be broadcast on TALK 92.1 FM WDDQ with Mike Chason having the call on the radio, while the game will be streamed on FloSports.
There are no changes in the region rankings this week from last week. Following VSU is Union, followed by Nova Southeastern, Tampa and Embry-Riddle round out the top five. Lee sits sixth, followed by Auburn Montgomery, Eckerd, Miles and Kentucky State round out the top ten.
The winners of the conference tournaments in the GSC, Sunshine State Conference (SSC) and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) will receive an automatic berth into the regional tournament.
If the NCAA postseason began today, the regional most likely would be hosted by Valdosta State as the top seed of the eight-team regional field. There would be four quarterfinal games on Friday, Mar. 15, followed by the semifinals Saturday, Mar. 16, with the championship scheduled for Monday, Mar. 18.
VSU has never hosted a NCAA women’s basketball regional. The winner of the South Regional Championship will advance to the NCAA Women’s Division II Elite Eight, scheduled for Mar. 25-29 at the St. Joseph Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo., on the campus of Missouri Western University.
The Lady Blazers are looking for their 16th appearance in the NCAA postseason and fourth-straight trip. The Lady Blazers are 17-15 all-time in the postseason as VSU finished third in 1984 and returned to the Elite Eight in 2022, losing a heartbreak to national runner-up Western Washington, 58-55.