Indianapolis – Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan are among the teams that will vie for a National Championship, as the NCAA unveiled its bracket for the Division II Women's Basketball Championship on late Sunday evening.
Both Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan will be making their NCAA Championship debut when the tournament gets underway next weekend. Daemen earns their second straight selection but did not get the chance to compete in 2020 when COVID-19 caused the cancelation of the entire tournament.
After winning the ECC Regular Season Championship with a perfect 9-0 record, Daemen earns an at-large berth and the No. 2 seed in the East Region. The Wildcats will play host to the regional, as Lumsden Gymnasium was selected as the predetermined site by the NCAA last month.
This year's regional bracket has been cut from the usual eight teams down to six due to COVID-19 so Daemen earns a bye to the regional semifinals as one of the region's top two seeds. The Wildcats will take on the winner of No. 3 Georgian Court and No. 6 Concordia, both members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC).
The other half of the bracket will feature ECC Champion, Roberts Wesleyan. The Redhawks are dancing for the first time after upsetting Daemen to win the program's first-ever ECC Championship and earn the league's automatic bid.
Roberts Wesleyan was awarded the No. 5 seed in the region and will take on No. 4 American International of the Northeast 10 Conference. The Yellow Jackets were one of only three NE10 teams in action this winter but still did enough without a conference schedule to earn an at-large bid.
The winner of the Roberts Wesleyan and American International matchup will advance to take on the region's top seed, No. 1 Dominican. The Chargers were the champions of the CACC.
The tournament gets underway on Friday, March 12. The semifinals take place the following day, Saturday, March 13, and after a day off, the championship game will be on Monday, March 15.
To view the full 48 team bracket, click here.
2021 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball East Regional
First Round - Friday, March 12
No. 3 Georgian Court (8-1) vs. No. 6 Concordia (6-5)
No. 4 American International (7-1) vs. No. 5 Roberts Wesleyan (10-6)
Semifinals – Sunday, March 13
No. 2 Daemen (12-2) vs. No. 3-No. 6 winner
No. 1 Dominican (12-1) vs. No. 4-No. 5 winner
Championship – Monday, March 15
