ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's basketball team will be the sixth seed in this week's Big South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament at the Millis Center on the campus of High Point University.
The Lady Eagles will face the host school in the first round as High Point tied for third place in the conference standings with Charleston Southern and was awarded the third-seed on a coin-flip. Winthrop will face off against the Panthers on Friday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the final of four games that day.
Winthrop finished the regular season with a 13-17 overall record and 7-9 in the Big South. The seven wins are tied for the second most wins in conference games in school history, which has been done four times. High Point, a preseason co-favorite to win the Big South, finished the regular season 16-13 overall and 9-7 in the league. The Panthers lost their last two games, one of which was against the Lady Eagles on Feb. 27 at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The Panthers are 10-3 at home this season and Winthrop lost its trip there on Jan. 16, 69-60 as it couldn't take advantage of 33 offensive rebounds. It is the second straight season the conference tournament is being held at the Millis Center. High Point was the #2 seed in 2008-09 and opened up the tournament with a 72-67 victory over UNC Asheville before falling 78-76 to sixth-seeded Gardner-Webb in the semi-finals. Winthrop earned the 4th seed in 2008-09 and defeated Coastal Carolina 67-48 in the opening round before falling to eventual champion Liberty, 61-42 in the semis. Winthrop has made four consecutive appearances in the conference tournament semi-finals.
This is only the fifth time Winthrop has ever been the sixth seed and is 2-2 all-time in the first round. This is the 10th straight year High Point has been a top four seed and just the third time it has been the third seed. The first time as a #3 seed the Panthers made the championship game before losing to Liberty and the second time they fell in the first round to Coastal Carolina.
The season series was split 1-1 between Winthrop and High Point and the two teams have only met once before in the conference tournament. That match-up came in 2007 in Asheville, NC at the Justice Center when the Lady Eagles became the first eight seed to upset a top-seed in the tournament in a 57-50 victory.
Gardner-Webb earned the top seed of the tournament with a 15-1 league record and 26-3 record overall.
First Round - Friday, March 12 (at Millis Center, High Point, N.C.)
Game1: No. 1 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 8 UNC Asheville, 12:00pm ET
Game 2: No. 4 Charleston Southern vs. No. 5 Coastal Carolina, 2:00pm ET
Game 3: No. 2 Liberty vs. No. 7 Radford, 5:30pm ET
Game 4: No. 3 High Point vs. No. 6 Winthrop, 7:30pm ET
Semifinals - Saturday, March 13 (at Millis Center, High Point, N.C.)
Game 5: Semifinals – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 1:00pm ET
TV: Sportsouth & MASN
Game 6: Semifinals – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 3:00pm ET
TV: Sportsouth & MASN
Championship - Sunday, March 14 (at Millis Center, High Point, N.C.)
Game 7: Championship - Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 4:00pm ET
TV: Sportsouth & MASN
Click Here for the Big South Conference Tournament Central page.