FGCU earns 7-seed at NCAA Tournament

With its best resume in program history, the FGCU women’s basketball team earned a No. 7 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, as announced by the Selection Committee on ESPN Monday Night. The Eagles, who hold a 30-2 record on a season, an official RPI of 15 and an AP Top-25 ranking of No. 20, will face No. 10 Oklahoma State Saturday, Mar. 21 in Tallahassee. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 from The Donald L. Tucker Civic Center on the campus of No. 2 seed Florida State with an 11 a.m. tipoff.

The 7/10 bout will be a rematch of last year’s first-round tilt from West Lafayette, Ind. The then 12-seed Eagles challenged the Big 12 foe but ultimately fell to the Cowgirls 61-60 in overtime.

“I thought we got seeded fairly and to be in Tallahassee is the best we could hope for” said five-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year Karl Smesko. “Last year’s game was a tremendous and this will be exciting. We’re really excited about the matchup.”

After earning their fifth-straight Atlantic Sun Regular Season title, the FGCU women’s basketball team captured the program’s third Atlantic Sun Conference Championship with a 60-43 victory over No. 3 Northern Kentucky Sunday afternoon. The team finished the A-Sun slate with a record of 14-0 and went 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 25 points in three postseason games.

The Cowgirls enter the NCAA Tournament with a record of 20-11 after falling to Baylor 69-52 in the Big 12 Semifinals. In three years with the program, head coach Jim Littell has guided the Cowgirls to a record of 67-31 and now three-consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. After squeaking by FGCU in last year’s first round, the team defeated Purdue 73-66 but fell to Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.

This year’s team went 11-2 in nonconference play but fell to 9-9 in Big 12 play and earned an at large bid with an official RPI of 46. The Cowgirls are 3-2 in their last five games and 7-3 in their last 10. OSU averaged 64.3 points per game with a .420 mark from the field and 41.1 rebounds per game through 31 games this season. The team boasts four double-figure scorers with junior Brittney Martin leading the team at 13.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest. The 6-0 post player averages 35 minutes per game and shoots .412 from the floor with only two long-range attempts on the year.

With Saturday morning’s matchup, the FGCU women will play in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years after earning a no. 12 seed in both 2012 and 2014. The Eagles fell in overtime to the no. 5 on both occasions with narrow losses to St. Bonaventure in 2012 and the Cowgirls in 2014. Both teams went on to the Sweet 16 in those years.

The team, which is ranked no. 20 in this week’s AP Top-25, currently holds an official NCAA RPI rating of 15 after finishing the regular season with a record of 27-2 and moving to 30-2 with three wins in the Atlantic Sun Championship. The Eagles will be one of eight teams with 30 wins in the NCAA tournament. FGCU holds a 25-game win streak to rank third in the nation, only behind the nation’s top team Connecticut and undefeated Princeton.

The 2014-15 season marked the 11th-straight season that Smesko and the Eagles won at least 20 games and stands as the first team to reach the 30-win mark as a Division I program.

All first round games of the 2015 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship are scheduled to be played Friday-Saturday, March 20-21 at regional sites around the country.

The second round will be played at the same locations Sunday and Monday, March 22-23 with the Regional rounds scheduled for March 27-28 and March 29-30 in four locations – Albany, N.Y., Greensboro, N.C., Oklahoma City and Spokane, Wash. The Women’s Final Four will be held in the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. April 5 and 7.