Manchester Looks for Third Straight Women’s Tournament Title at AU
February 25, 2008
GREENWOOD , IN – The HCAC women’s basketball tournament will get underway Tuesday night with opening round action. The six-team tournament will decide who receives the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The semi-finals and finals will be held at Anderson University Friday and Saturday.
Anderson (17-7, 12-4 HCAC) heads into the tournament winners of three straight and has posted wins in five of their last six contests. The Ravens earned a 7-3 record against the five other schools involved in the conference tournament. Manchester (17-8, 12-4 HCAC) and Transylvania (14-11, 10-6 HCAC) each earned a 6-4 mark against the field, while Hanover (15-10, 9-7 HCAC) and Rose-Hulman (11-14, 7-9 HCAC) went 4-6 and Franklin (11-13, 8-8 HCAC) finished 3-7.
Manchester and Anderson shared the regular season championship, however the Ravens held the tie-breaker to host the conference tournament. It is the Spartans second straight regular season crown and the Ravens’ first since the 2001-2002 season. The top seed Ravens will take on the winner of Hanover and Franklin Friday night in the HCAC semi-finals. AU posted a sweep of Franklin and earned a split with Hanover this season.
Hanover lost three of their last four games to end the regular season and will look to get back on track with a win over rival Franklin in an opening round showdown. The No. 4 seed Panthers will look to move into the semi-finals at Anderson with a win at home over No. 5 Franklin Tuesday night. The Grizzlies had the Panthers number during the regular season, taking both meetings on the conference slate. Franklin and Hanover will tip at 7:30 PM Tuesday night at Hanover College.
Manchester will be searching for their third straight conference tournament championship this weekend. The Spartans defeated Transylvania 70-69 in last year’s conference tournament championship held at Manchester. The black and gold enter the 2008 tournament as the No. 2 seed and will take on the winner of Rose-Hulman and Transylvania in the second semi-final at Anderson Friday night. The Spartans have won three of their last four games heading into the post-season and was successful against Transy and Rose during regular season play. MC earned a split against the Pioneers and swept Rose-Hulman during their two meetings.
Transylvania claimed the No. 3 seed and will play host to No. 6 Rose-Hulman at 6:00 PM Tuesday night in Lexington. Transy and Rose split their regular season meetings as both games were decided by double figures. The Pioneers have been bitten by the injury bug this season, having four players miss the conference tournament due to various injuries. The winner of Tuesday night’s game will advance to the semis to face Manchester at Anderson Friday night.
The HCAC tournament championship game will take place at 2:00 PM Saturday afternoon at Anderson University.