New Orleans, La. (GCAConf.com) – The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference announced its bracket on Wednesday for the 2015 GCAC Women’s Basketball Championships. Southern University at New Orleans secured just its second outright GCAC Championship and the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The tournament will be played March 6-8, with the quarterfinal round at Dillard University’s Dent Hall and the semifinals and final played at the Xavier University Convocation Center in New Orleans.
The Lady Knights receive the tournament’s top seed for the first time since the 1999-2000 season after finishing with a 13-1 record in GCAC play. SUNO finished with an overall record of 19-4, and will see their first tournament action on Friday against No. 8 Voorhees at 7 p.m. CT.
Last season’s tournament champion Xavier is the No. 2 seed for the second consecutive season after ending the regular season with a 9-5 conference mark. They will face off with No. 7 Tougaloo at 5 p.m. CT on Friday night.
Dillard and Talladega tied for third place in the conference with 8-6 records. The Lady Bleu Devils take the third seed based on their record against SUNO. Dillard finished the regular season with 16-12. Their climb from a seven seed last season to a third this year represents the greatest improvement of any team in the conference. Dillard faces No. 6 Edward Waters Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT.
Fourth-seeded Talladega failed to win 20 games for the first time since re-joining the GCAC in 2011, but have finished in the conference’s top half in each of those years. They will face No. 5 seed Philander Smith in the opener Friday at 12 p.m. CT.
On Saturday, the winner of Dillard/Edward Waters will face the victor of the Xavier/Tougaloo matchup at 12 p.m. CT. The second semifinal will feature the SUNO/Voorhees winner taking on the Talladega/Philander Smith winner at 5 p.m. CT.
The GCAC championship game tips off at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday.
Fans can buy tickets online at www.GCAConf.com or at each game.
The winner of the tournament will gain the GCAC’s automatic bid to the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship. Last season the conference sent two teams to the tournament, as Xavier (automatic) and Talladega (at-large) both represented the GCAC.
Courtesy: GCAC
