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Sports TwitterRedHawks women await their tourney fate
Miami will learn what path its NCAA tournament journey will take tonight; fans can join in festivities.
Monday, March 17, 2008
OXFORD — Fans of the Miami University women's basketball team are invited to watch the "Women's NCAA Tournament Selection Show" with the team's players and coaches tonight, March 17, on campus.
The team will gather at the Walter L. Gross Jr. Family Student-Athlete Development Center, which is located behind Millett Hall.
Extras
The doors will open at 6:15 p.m. The selection program, to be televised on ESPN, begins at 7.
The RedHawks clinched their first NCAA berth by winning the Mid-American Conference tournament championship with a 67-56 victory over the Ohio Bobcats on Saturday, March 15.
Coach Maria Fantanarosa said afterward that her staff, including assistant coaches Lisa Hayden, Heather Oesterle and Colleen Day, do much of the work while she takes the credit.
"When I hired my staff, they carried me with the X's and O's and the recruiting," Fantanarosa said. "They really do deserve a championship."
Miami will be sent to one of eight campus sites: Albuquerque, N.M.; Baton Rouge, La.; Bridgeport, Conn.; College Park, Md.; Des Moines, Iowa; Norfolk, Va.; Stanford, Calif.; or West Lafayette, Ind.
NCAA first-round games will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 22-23.
Second-round games will be Monday and Tuesday, March 24-25.
MAC teams had been eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament 10 straight years, but that streak was ended last season by Bowling Green.
The seventh-seeded Falcons advanced to the Sweet 16 with victories over 10th-seeded Oklahoma State 70-66 and second-seeded Vanderbilt 59-56 in East Lansing, Mich. before losing to third-seeded Arizona State 67-49 in Greensboro, N.C.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
