Women’s Basketball set for Saturday playoff game
PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast knows its path through the NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament, and it starts at Dantzler Arena.
The Bulldogs earned a bye into the quarterfinals, and they'll host the winner of Thursday's Northeast Mississippi-Meridian quarterfinal. Tipoff is at 1 p.m.
Gulf Coast (17-6, 11-3 MACCC) finished in a tie for third in the conference, and the tiebreakers shook out to give the Bulldogs the fourth seed.
Four first-round games will be played Thursday, with the higher seed hosting. The top four seeds will host the quarterfinals, to be played Saturday. Northeast Mississippi travels to Meridian, and the teams will tip at 5:30 p.m.
Pearl River won the MACCC championship and will host the semifinals and finals, unless the Wildcats are upset in the quarterfinals. The highest remaining seed would host, in that case.
The 12 teams in the field include 11 from the MACCC and the Louisiana Community College Athletic Conference champion, which is seeded according to its Massey Rating in relation to the Mississippi schools. LSU Eunice breezed through to that championship and had the seventh-highest rating among the schools, earning a host site Thursday when the Bengals play Copiah-Lincoln.
The winner of the Region 23 Tournament advances to the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship in Lake Charles, La., on March 24-31.
NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament
March 5-13
First Round
Thursday, March 5
No. 9 East Central at No. 8 Coahoma, 5:30 p.m.
No. 12 Northeast Mississippi at No. 5 Meridian, 5:30 p.m.
No. 10 Copiah-Lincoln at No. 7 LSU Eunice, 6 p.m.
No. 11 Holmes at No. 6 Jones, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 7
East Central-Coahoma winner at No. 1 Pearl River, 1 p.m.
Northeast-Meridian winner at No. 4 Gulf Coast, 1 p.m.
Co-Lin/LSU-E winner at No. 2 Itawamba, 2 p.m.
Holmes-Jones winner at No. 3 Northwest, 5:30 p.m.
Semifinals
Wednesday, March 11
At Poplarville (or highest seed remaining)
Finals
Friday, March 13
At Poplarville (or highest seed remaining)
For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
