Saint Vincent women net top seed in PAC Championship Tournament
GREENVILLE, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--For the second-straight year, Saint Vincent College claimed the number one seed and home court advantage throughout the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Basketball Championship Tournament, which will take place February 24-29.
With the league's double-bye format, top-seeded Saint Vincent (19-6, 15-1 PAC) and second-seeded Grove City College (23-2, 14-2 PAC) automatically advance to the championship tournament's semifinal round, which will be hosted by Saint Vincent at the Robert S. Carey Student Center on Friday, Feb. 28.
Tenth-year head coach Jimmy Petruska has Saint Vincent ranked eighth in the latest NCAA Division III Great Lakes regional rankings (Feb. 16). The Bearcats, making their 10th-straight appearance in the league’s championship tournament semifinal round, secured the PAC's automatic qualifying bid to the 2018-19 Division III Championship after winning its first-ever PAC Championship Tournament title last February. Top-seeded Saint Vincent cruised to a 70-48 victory over No. 2 Washington & Jefferson College in the championship game.
Tournament play begins Monday with a pair of first round matchups. Fifth-seeded Chatham University (14-10, 7-9 PAC) will host eighth-seeded Geneva College (3-20, 2-14 PAC) while sixth-seeded Waynesburg University (7-18, 6-10 PAC) will host seventh-seeded Bethany College (6-19, 5-11 PAC).
In Wednesday’s quarterfinal round, the Waynesburg-Bethany winner will travel to face third-seeded Westminster College (19-6, 12-4 PAC) while the Chatham-Geneva winner will play at fourth-seeded Washington & Jefferson College (16-9, 11-5 PAC).
The winners of Wednesday's quarterfinal matchups will travel to Latrobe, Pa. for the semifinal and championship rounds Friday and Saturday. Grove City will face off against the 3-6-7 winner Friday at 5:30 p.m., followed by Saint Vincent hosting the 4-5-8 winner in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. The start time of Saturday's title game will be announced later this week.
Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students. PAC and institutional passes are not accepted at PAC Championship events. Students from PAC institutions will be admitted for free with a valid college ID.
The winner of the PAC’s Championship Tournament will receive the league's automatic qualifying bid to this year's Division III Championship Tournament. Forty-three conferences have been granted automatic qualification to this year's 64-team championship. The selected Division III Championship teams as well as the first and second round site selections will be announced Monday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m. (EST) on ncaa.com. First and second round games are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 6-7.
| 2019-20 PAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament |
| First Round |
| Monday, February 24 |
| 7 p.m. |
No. 8 Geneva at No. 5 Chatham |
| 7 p.m. |
No. 7 Bethany at No. 6 Waynesburg |
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| Quarterfinals |
| Wednesday, February 26 |
| 7 p.m. |
No. 6/No. 7 winner at No. 3 Westminster (Quarterfinal 1) |
| 7 p.m. |
No. 5/No. 8 winner at No. 4 W&J (Quarterfinal 2) |
|
| Semifinals (Saint Vincent to host Friday's semifinal round and Saturday's championship game) |
| Friday, February 28 |
| 5:30 p.m. |
Winner of Quarterfinal 1 vs. No. 2 Grove City (Semifinal 1) |
| 7:30 p.m. |
Winner of Quarterfinal 2 at No. 1 Saint Vincent (Semifinal 2) |
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| Championship (Saint Vincent to host Friday's semifinal round and Saturday's championship game) |
| Saturday, February 29 |
| TBD |
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. winner of Semifinal 2 |
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