No. 11 Seed Quinnipiac Set to Face No. 6 Seed South Dakota State in NCAA Tournament

3/22/2019 12:00:00 PM

No. 11 seed Quinnipiac University vs. No. 6 seed South Dakota State University
2019 NCAA Women’s Tournament First Round – Portland Region
Saturday, March 23 | 11:00 a.m. ET | ESPN3
Syracuse, NY
Carrier Dome

Quinnipiac won its third straight MAAC Championship by defeating No. 2 Marist College 81-51 as the top seed in the conference. The 30-point margin is the largest in MAAC Championship Game history. The title is Quinnipiac’s fourth since joining the MAAC before the 2013-14 campaign. Redshirt-senior Jen Fay was named the Most Valuable Player of the MAAC Championship and was joined on the MAAC All-Championship Team by teammates Aryn McClure and Paula Strautmane. The win extended Quinnipiac’s winning streak to 21 games, as well as 52-consecutive over MAAC opponents.

Quinnipiac returns to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. The Bobcats advanced past the first round in each of the past two years, making it as far as the Sweet 16 in 2017. Last season as the No. 9 seed, the Bobcats defeated No. 8 University of Miami in the opening round before falling to No. 1 University of Connecticut.

South Dakota State is coming off its ninth Summit League Championship title, where it defeated the University of South Dakota 83-71. The Jackrabbits were ranked 23^rd in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll and received votes in the latest AP Poll.

The MAAC is 9-39 all-time in the NCAA Tournament; Quinnipiac is 3-3 when making it to the Big Dance. Marist has the most wins with five, making the tournament ten times. Marist and Quinnipiac are the only conference schools to win multiple games in the NCAAs; both overall and in a single tournament.

About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 38^th year of competition during the 2018-19 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.