NIACC women earn No. 1 seed

PORT HURON, Mich. - The top-ranked NIACC women's basketball team will be the No. 1 seed for next week's NJCAA Division II tournament.

NIACC (32-1) faces 16th seed United Tribes Technical College (13-17) at 6 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, March 17 in its first-round contest in the SC4 Fieldhouse on the St. Clair County CC campus.

The winner of the NIACC/United Tribes game moves to the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday against the winner of eighth-seed Sullivan County and ninth-seed CCBC-Essex.

Labette earned the tournament's No. 2 seed. Macomb is the No. 3 seed and Lakeland is the fourth-seed.

NIACC, which is playing in its second straight national tournament, punched its ticket to the 16-team national tournament with a 93-75 win over rival Kirkwood in the NJCAA Region XI title game on Sunday in the NIACC gym.

United Tribes, which is located in Bismark, N.D., topped Central CC-Columbus 77-53 last Saturday in the NJCAA North Plains District championship game. The Thunderbirds claimed the NJCAA Region XIII title with a 76-60 win over Gogebic CC.

NIACC and United Tribes have two common opponents - Central CC-Columbus and Little Priest Tribal College. The Thunderbirds rolled to a 88-55 win over LPTC on Nov. 22.

NIACC owns two wins over Central CC-Columbus (92-39 and 80-60) and three wins over LPTC (112-35, 120-41 and 116-36).

NJCAA Division II national tournament

At Port Huron, Mich.

(All times Eastern)

Tuesday's first-round games

9 a.m. - (3) Macomb vs. (14) Kankakee

11 a.m. - (6) Niagara County vs. (11) Mid-Michigan

1 p.m. - (7) Pima vs. (10) Edison State

3 p.m. - (2) Labette vs. Union County

6 p.m. - (1) NIACC vs. (16) United Tribes Tech

8 p.m. - (8) Sullivan County vs. (9) CCBC-Essex

Wednesday's first-round games

11 a.m. - (4) Lakeland vs. (13) North Arkansas

1 p.m. - (5) Bryant & Stratton (Wis.) vs. (12) Wake Tech

Wednesday's quarterfinals games

6 p.m. - Macomb/Kankakee winner vs. Niagara County/Mid-Michigan winner

8 p.m. - Labette/Union County winner vs. Pima/Edison State winner

Thursday's quarterfinal games

6 p.m. - NIACC/United Tribes winner vs. Sullivan County/CCBC-Essex winner

8 p.m. - Lakeland/North Arkansas winner vs. Bryant & Stratton/Wake Tech winner