Lady Eagles named eight seed, will face top-seeded Grand Valley State in Elite Eight
INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA has re-seeded the eight regional champions and announced the pairings Tuesday afternoon. Carson-Newman (24-10) was seeded eighth and will challenge top-seeded Grand Valley State (33-1) next Tuesday, March 24 at 6:00 EST in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA has re-seeded the eight regional champions and announced the pairings Tuesday afternoon. Carson-Newman (24-10) was seeded eighth and will challenge top-seeded Grand Valley State (33-1) next Tuesday, March 24 at 6:00 EST in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The National Quarterfinals begin at noon with third-seeded Colorado Mesa playing sixth-seeded Minnesota Duluth. The winner of that matchup draws either second-seeded Indiana (PA) or seventh-seeded Holy Family who will meet at 2:30 p.m. The final game of the day is fourth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona matching up with fifth-seeded Alabama Huntsville at 8:30 p.m.
Carson-Newman's regional championship path included wins over the first, second and fourth seeds, all of which were nationally ranked as well. The Lady Eagles entered this NCAA Tournament with just one ranked win in the NCAA Tournament
C-N will look to become the second eight seed to advance to the Final Four in the last three seasons. In 2024, Cal St. San Marcos upset top-seeded Gannon in the National Quarterfinals.
When the Lady Eagles and Lakers meet next Tuesday, it will be the first all-time meeting between the two programs. For Carson-Newman, it will be its third all-time meeting against a current school in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. C-N played Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State in November of 2022. It will be GVSU's first-ever matchup against a school from the South Atlantic Conference and just its second game against a current school in the Southeast region.
Grand Valley State is the top overall seed in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season. The Lakers won their third Midwest Regional title in the last five seasons, defeating Northwood 69-59 on Monday night. They have seven regional championships in program history.
This is GVSU's 20th NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and their 11th straight. They have claimed two national titles, last season and the first came in 2005-06. They will be looking to become the seventh DII school to win back to back national championships.
No team in DII has a better scoring margin than Grand Valley State this season. They have beat teams by an average of 28.1 points this season. The Lakers are the seventh-best offensive team at 80.3 points per game and are the sixth-best defensive club holding teams to just 52 points per game.
The Lakers are one of just two schools in DII with just one loss this season. They won their first 21 games of the year before suffering their only loss to Wayne State on February 7th.
Tip off from UPMC Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania next Tuesday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live camera of the broadcast crew "On Press Row" will also be available on YouTube.
