By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Western women's basketball team will continue their historic season in the NCAA tournament.
The Griffons (21-9) drew the No. 7 seed in the Central Region of the NCAA tournament during Sunday night's selection show, putting Missouri Western back into the big dance for the first time since 2016.
"I'm really thrilled for our program and for our players and coaches," Missouri Western women's basketball coach Candi Whitaker said. "Everyone has worked really hard to build on the momentum we had at the end of last year and getting better and understanding more of what we're capable of."
The Griffons will face No. 2 seed and Great American Conference champion Southwestern Oklahoma State (29-4) on Friday in Hays, KS. Tip time is to be determined.
The MIAA is well represented in this year's NCAA tournament, with four teams making it on the women's side. Fort Hays State (28-3), the MIAA tournament champions, is the No. 1 seed and will host the regional bracket from March 11-14.
Missouri Southern (24-6) is the No. 4 seed and Nebraska-Kearney (23-6) is No. 6.
"I think it's exciting to play someone new," Whitaker said of the Griffons' first-round matchup. "Probably for (the players) as well, that they're playing someone they haven't already played. With four (MIAA) teams in the bracket, that could've gone the other way. Proud of our league. I feel like we're a talented league from top to bottom."
The Griffons have played Kearney, Hays and Southern all within the last two weeks and lost all three. Two of those losses, though, were by single digits. One was in overtime. The Griffons also had a halftime lead in all three of those contests.
"We've played well against those teams," Whitaker said. "We've battled in a lot of ways. So, if we can turn the corner as far as not having the lapses that we have and some execution problems at times, I think we can complete a 40-minute game and beat someone of that caliber."
Missouri Western made it to the MIAA tournament semifinals for the first time since 2018 on Saturday, where they fell to No. 1 seed Missouri Southern, 65-58 in Kansas City.
It was Friday's 69-55 win over Central Missouri (19-11) in the MIAA tournament quarterfinals that solidified the Griffons' resume, pushing them from No. 8 to No. 7 in the Central Region rankings ahead of Minnesota State-Mankato.
Missouri Western hasn't won an NCAA tournament game in women's basketball since 2007, though that win was later vacated due to NCAA violations.
The last official win in the tournament for Griffon women's basketball was in 2001 - a 69-67 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State in the first round of the South Central regional.
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