Women’s basketball to face Iowa in opening round of 2019 NCAA Tournament
Mitch Robinson
The Bears are going dancing again! After winning the SoCon Tournament, the Bears are headed to the Division 1 NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.
The wait is over. After a little over a week of anticipation, the Mercer women’s basketball team found out who their first round matchup will be in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
The Bears were given a No. 15 seed in the Greensboro region, earning them a matchup against the No. 2 seed Iowa Hawkeyes. Like the Bears, the Hawkeyes earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this season after winning the Big 10 conference tournament title.
Iowa is the nation’s No. 9 overall ranked team, finishing the season with a 26-6 record. The Hawkeyes are led by 6’3 junior forward Megan Gustafson, this year’s espnW Player of the Year, which is awarded to the nation’s top women’s basketball player.
This is Mercer’s second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament after falling to No. 4 seeded Georgia in the first round last season. The Bears will hope for a different result given a similar opportunity to pull off the upset this season.
The game is set for tip-off at 2 p.m. (ET) on Friday March 22 in Iowa City, IA. The game will be nationally broadcasted live on ESPN2.
The Cluster’s comments section is meant to be a place for respectful conversation and reflection on issues and events affecting students at Mercer University. Comments are moderated by the student staff of The Cluster to ensure that those made visible on the website reflect these standards. Harassment, hate, spam and personal attacks on staff members will not be approved. This does not mean that critical comments will be rejected. We welcome diverse perspectives on our reporting and on students’ experiences at Mercer University. Comments will not be approved unless a valid name and email address are submitted. Please also note that our comment moderation system logs IP addresses associated with every comment submitted.
If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a gravatar.