ASU women to meet Union in national tourney

ALBANY – After receiving an automatic bid by claiming the SIAC championship on Sunday, the Albany State Lady Rams learned their seeding and first round opponent for the 2015 NCAA Division II National Tournament South Region. The tournament will take place March 13-16 in Jackson, Tenn.

Albany State (19-9), ranked 10th in the latest NCAA South Region rankings, will be the No. 8 seed and will open against the No. 1 seed and tournament host Union University (26-3) from the Gulf South Conference. Union claimed the GSC title and earned an automatic bid. The Lady Bulldogs were the No. 1 team in the last region ranking and they were granted the host role for the tournament.

The Lady Rams and Lady Bulldogs will battle on Friday at 5 p.m.

Fellow SIAC teams Benedict and Kentucky State also made the NCAA field. The Lady Tigers, seeded at No. 5, will face No. 4 West Florida. The Lady Thoroughbreds are the No. 7 seed and will play No. 2 Nova Southeastern. The other regional contest pits No. 3 Eckerd and No. 6 Rollins.

Albany State defeated Benedict 72-64 in the championship game to earn an automatic bid. After losing to Nova Southeastern in the second round last season, Lady Rams coach Robert Skinner said his team is more prepared for the national tournament this year.

“It had been a while last year since we made the tournament, so we really wasn’t prepared to go out and play and we had a lot of kids injured,” he said. “I think we’re much better prepared this year even though we have two or three ball players healing and mending. We know what to expect now.”

The Lady Rams’ victory on Sunday at the Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham, Ala. was their 13th straight. The last team to beat ASU ironically was Benedict.