The Saint Xavier Cougars will travel to Sioux City, Iowa on Monday to get ready for the National Tournament. The Cougars were given the No. 18 overall ranking going into the tournament; and the No. 5 seed in their part of the bracket.
The bracket is split up into four, eight team quadrants based on the NAIA Ratings Poll. The Cougars will be taking on the No. 4 team in their bracket, Saint Thomas University (Fla.).
Saint Thomas finished the season with a 27-3 record, and saw their 15 game winning streak snapped in the semifinal round of the Sun Conference Championship. The Bobcats received one of the 11 at-large bids to play in the NAIA Tournament.
Saint Xavier also received an at large bid after they ended the season at 24-6 after falling short of their goals in the CCAC Conference Tournament. They were knocked out by Indiana University-South Bend in the Quarterfinal round, 70-64.
The Cougars, like Saint Thomas, had their own winning streak this season which consisted of 14 straight wins in a row. During this winning streak Saint Xavier beat five teams within the top 25, and three of the teams were within the top 10 at the time.
Coach Hallberg last year would always say that you cannot come out and have a cold game in this tournament solely for the fact that if you do you will be going home early.
The first game for the Cougars will be played on Wednesday, March 6 at 8:30 a.m. After asking the girls how they felt about the game time they gave the impression that even though it would be early they were used to it and were not surprised by it at all; which could bode well in their favor.
This will be the 11th straight season that the Cougars will be advancing to the NAIA National Tournament. Saint Xavier has also advanced to the second round in five out of the past seven seasons.
For all the coverage of the women’s basketball games tune into WXAV 88.3 fm Chicago or wxav.com.
Brandon Swanson
Sports Correspondent