No. 5-seed Spartans to face no. 12-seed Bowling Green Saturday

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The MSU women’s basketball team will face a familiar foe in the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 5-seed Spartans will play No. 12-seed Bowling Green on Saturday at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky., as part of the Kansas City Regional. The two teams met in the opening round of the 2008 WNIT, a 74-66 Spartans win.

“In my gut, I thought we would be somewhere around a five (seed),” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “I saw there was maybe an opportunity for a six and I didn’t think we’d get as high as a four, so I’m pleased. I thought it was a fair assessment of where we were at.”

The game will tip off at 12:11 p.m.

“I feel good that we’re closer to home and don’t have to change some time zones,” Merchant said. “That’s a positive as well.”

The Spartans (22-9 overall) finished the season strong, winning 11 of their last 13 games, with the two losses coming to Iowa, first on Feb. 7, then in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

“I think the seeding worked out well for us,” senior guard Mandy Piechowski said. “We didn’t really know exactly where we were going to be. We had a good run at the end of the year, but to
lose that last game to Iowa, you know, people remember that last loss instead of the wins before that.”

Bowling Green (27-6), the Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament champion, is no stranger to pulling an NCAA upset.

In East Lansing in 2007, the Falcons defeated No. 10 seed Oklahoma State and No. 2 seed Vanderbilt to advance to the Sweet 16.

This season, the Falcons feature two-time MAC Player of the Year Lauren Prochaska, who
averages 17.9 points and 5.7 rebounds in 33 minutes per game.

Last season, the Spartans entered the tournament as a No. 9 seed, beating Middle Tennessee State in the first round and No. 1-seeded Duke in the second round.

That earned them a spot in the Sweet 16, where MSU lost to No. 4 seed Iowa State. The Spartans blew a seven-point lead in the final minute and lost 69-68.

MSU has been in the Sweet 16 three times the past five tournaments, advancing to the national championship game in 2005, losing to Duke in the Sweet 16 in 2006 and falling to Iowa State last season.

As expected, Connecticut is the No. 1 overall seed and will play in the Dayton Regional. Stanford (Sacramento Regional), Tennessee (Memphis Regional) and Nebraska (Kansas City Regional) round out the No. 1 seeds.

Four Big Ten teams made the dance, led by automatic qualifier and league regular season and tournament champion Ohio State, the No. 2 seed in the Dayton Region. Wisconsin (No. 7 in the Kansas City Region), Iowa (No. 8 in the Sacramento Region) will join MSU.

“We’re excited,” senior forward Aisha Jefferson said. “Everybody’s ready to go. We have an opponent now and we’re ready to get this started.”

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