Women's Hoops Receives Fifth Seed at National Tournament
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- The seedings for the 2008 NCCAA DII Women's Basketball Tournament have been released and North Central received the fifth spot. That means NCU will avoid the first round play in game they participated in last year. They will draw fourth seed and Midwest Region Champ Maranatha Baptist Bible College in the second round. Tournament host and defending National Champion Kentucky Christian University garnered the top spot for the 2008 bracket.
NCU (15-12) comes into the national tournament after blowing through their regional tournament with dominate wins over Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, Iowa) and Providence College (Otterburne, Manitoba). That followed an undefeated season in the North Central Region and also against all NCCAA DII teams.
During the 2007-08 campaign NCU was led by senior forward Amy Sletten (Fergus Falls, Minn.) and junior center Naomi Sanon (Boston, Mass.). Both were named to the First Team All-Region squad and Sletten was named the Region's Most Valuable Player. Sletten was the leading scorer for the Rams averaging over 17 points a game while pulling down over 8 rebounds. Sletten also became NCU's All-Time leading scorer in the Rams home finale victory over Grace University (Omaha, Neb.). Sanon was the leading rebounder for the Rams averaging over 16 boards a game while scoring more than 16 per contest. During the regional tournament Sanon became the career leader in rebounds. She already had set the single season mark for boards and blocks during the regular season.
North Central's first round opponent Maranatha (Watertown, Wis.) claimed an automatic bid after winning the Midwest Regional. The Lady Crusaders (9-15) were the national runner up in 2007 and look to return to the finals and avenge their loss to host Kentucky Christian (Grayson, Ky.).
NCU and MBBC tip off their second round battle at 2pm on Thursday. The winner will advance to play the winner of #1 Kentucky Christian and the play in game victor at 8 pm on Friday. The play in game features #8 Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.) and #9 Southwestern College (Phoenix, Ariz.). The loser of the Rams and Crusaders tilt will face the loser of the KCU/Play in game winner on Friday at 2pm.
The 2008 NCCAA DII National Tournament Seedings
1. Kentucky Christian (25-6)
2. Philadelphia Biblical University (Philadelphia, Pa, 11-14)
3. Hillsdale Free Will Baptist Bible College (Moore, Okla, 19-9)
4. Maranatha Baptist Bible College
5. North Central
6. Southeastern University (Lakeland, Fla, 18-14)
7. Grace Bible College (Wyoming, Mich, 22-9)
8. Ozark Christian College (24-9)
9. Southwestern College (9-12)
10. Southwestern Christian University (Bethany, Okla, 13-15)