MARSHALL, Texas – Waiting until the very end of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Selection show, East Texas Baptist University has made the national tournament for the second time in program history. It came down to one of the final two sites reveled as ETBU is the #2 seed in the region as they head to Memphis, Tenn., to take on host and #3 seed Rhodes College.
"First and fore most all the credit goes to The Lord as we have been truly blessed throughout this entire year. I am really excited for our girls as they are a great group of ladies. This was not guaranteed and we are blessed to be there," said head coach
Blake Arbogast.
This is will be the second NCAA Division III Tournament in five years for ETBU. Last year's tournament was cancelled as ETBU was 25-1 and most likely would have made it. This year, at 20-5, ETBU was selected for the first time since the 2017-18 season when they won the American Southwest Conference Tournament and made a run to the Elite 8. The program has now won 113 games in the past five years and had 20+ wins each year.
The ASC had two other teams selected in Mary Hardin-Baylor, who is also in the same bracket, and Hardin-Simmons University who will host. The NCAA selected 64 teams for the tournament and ETBU was one of 20 teams selected in the at-large field.
TEAMS SELECTED
Conferences and Teams Receiving Automatic Qualification (44):
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference La Roche (20-5)
American Rivers Conference Simpson (25-1)
American Southwest Conference Hardin-Simmons (21-4)
Atlantic East Conference Immaculata (18-8)
Centennial Conference Gettysburg (24-3)
City University of New York Athletic Conference Brooklyn (21-3)
Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Christopher Newport (24-0)
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Illinois Wesleyan (19-8)
Colonial States Athletic Conference Clarks Summit (23-4)
Commonwealth Coast Conference Roger Williams (25-2)
Empire 8 St. John Fisher (25-2)
Great Northeast Athletic Conference Emmanuel (Massachusetts) (25-1)
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Transylvania (24-0)
Landmark Conference Scranton (25-2) Liberty League Ithaca (24-3)
Little East Conference Rhode Island College (23-5)
Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Framingham State (22-3)
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hope (26-1)
Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth Messiah (23-3)
Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom DeSales (21-3)
Midwest Conference Ripon (18-9)
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gustavus Adolphus (22-4)
New England Collegiate Conference Mitchell (12-13)
New England Small College Athletic Conference Bates (17-7)
New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Smith (23-2)
New Jersey Athletic Conference New Jersey City (13-9)
North Atlantic Conference SUNY Polytechnic Institute (20-6)
North Coast Athletic Conference Wittenberg (18-7)
Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Wisconsin Lutheran (23-1)
Northwest Conference Whitman (26-1)
Ohio Athletic Conference Baldwin Wallace (21-4)
Old Dominion Athletic Conference Shenandoah (22-5)
Presidents' Athletic Conference Washington & Jefferson (23-4)
Skyline Conference Mount St. Mary (23-3)
Southern Athletic Association Rhodes (23-2)
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Whittier (16-8)
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Trinity (Texas) (25-2)
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Webster (25-0)
State University of New York Athletic Conference SUNY New Paltz (20-6)
United East Conference SUNY Morrisville (19-7)
University Athletic Association New York University (22-1)
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference North Central (Minnesota) (24-4)
USA South Athletic Conference Southern Virginia (24-4)
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Wisconsin-Eau Claire (21-7)
Pool C Berths (20):
Amherst (21-3)
Babson (19-7)
Catholic (20-5)
DePauw (23-3)
East Texas Baptist (20-5)
Elizabethtown (20-5)
John Carroll (22-4)
Johns Hopkins (22-4)
Marietta (21-5)
Mary Hardin-Baylor (22-4)
Millikin (21-6)
Salisbury (20-6)
Springfield (22-4)
SUNY Cortland (21-5)
Trine (24-3)
Tufts (20-4)
Wartburg (21-5)
Washington and Lee (20-6)
Wisconsin-Oshkosh (19-6)
Wisconsin-Whitewater (23-4)
