Women’s Basketball Games of the Weekend 3/3 – 3/4
Consider this an incomplete weekend in college basketball because three of the major conferences conclude with tournament finals on Sunday, but we won’t know the teams competing until later on Saturday. Regular-season finales for other schools are also on tap before conference tournaments in those leagues begin. Otherwise, most of the matchups this weekend are top teams against conference basement foes. That WILL change next week.
TENNESSEE-MARTIN VS. TENNESSEE TECH (4:30 p.m. Saturday at Municipal Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee)
This is the Ohio Valley Conference tournament final, and unlike Murray State sweeping through the men’s bracket this is definitely an all-Tennessee contest. Tennessee-Martin (22-8, 15-1) was the top seed coming into the tournament, and everything fell into place to set up a rematch of last year’s tournament finals. UT-Martin earned a double bye into the semifinals and beat Murray State, 102-77, to reach the championship game. Tennessee Tech (17-15, 11-5) topped Eastern Kentucky 81-65 and then upset second-seed Eastern Illinois 81-72 to reach the finals. Martin’s three-prong offensive attack of Heather Butler, Jasmine Newsome and Jaclissa Haislip (all over 20 points against Murray State) is big.
ACC TOURNAMENT FINALS (2 p.m. Sunday at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina)
At first the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament went according to plan, unless you counted ninth-seed North Carolina State’s three-point upset of eighth-seed Florida State as a major detour. Then came the quarterfinals and everything was thrown into the air. North Carolina State took out Duke, the tournament’s top seed, in a 75-73 surprise, and Wake Forest stunned second-seed Miami 81-74. This meant Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Maryland and Wake Forest made the semifinals, and Georgia Tech reached the championship game with a resounding 87-61 victory. Lord knows what else will happen in this tournament to make things interesting.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT FINALS (4 p.m. Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana)
The former Conseco Fieldhouse is the site of the Big Ten women’s tournament, just like it will be the men next week. Ohio State and Nebraska meet in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. Saturday, followed at 7:30 p.m. by the Penn State-Purdue matchup. Ohio State beat Michigan 57-48 to reach the semifinals, having earned a bye into the quarterfinal round, while Nebraska topped Northwestern 88-56 and then downed third-seed Iowa 80-68 to make it to the final four. As for Penn State, the top seed nearly fell to Minnesota but hung on for a 78-74 victory, and Purdue scored a 73-64 win over Michigan State. It is hard to tell what will happen in this tournament, but Ohio State may have an outside shot at the tournament title assuming Nebraska doesn’t play spoiler.
SEC TOURNAMENT FINALS (6 p.m. Sunday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee)
It only seems like Nashville is the center for women’s basketball this week, what with two tournament finals going on. This tournament final will feature two of the following four teams: Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee or South Carolina. Kentucky, the tournament’s top seed, barely escaped with a 71-67 win over Florida in the quarterfinals while LSU did the same in a low-scoring 41-40 win over Arkansas. As for South Carolina, the Gamecocks topped Alabama 57-38 and then upset third-seed Georgia 59-55 to reach the semifinals. Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 68-57. Will there be a border war between Kentucky and Tennessee for the SEC tournament title? Stay tuned.
