Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 11, 1991 TAG: 9103110073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press and staff reports
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Medium
The Southeastern Conference grabbed seven of the 48 berths, three more than any other league. Three SEC teams - Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee - joined Long Beach State and Louisiana Tech as the only programs that have appeared in every tournament since the NCAA began sponsoring women's championships in 1981.
Stanford, the defending champion, was made a No. 2 seed in the West Regional. First- and second-round games will be played on the campus of one of the contestants. The four regional finals will be the weekend of March 21-23, hosted by Knoxville, Tenn., in the Mideast; Las Vegas in the West; Philadelphia in the East, and Austin, Texas, in the Midwest.
The Final Four will be March 30-31 in New Orleans.
The top four seeds in each region get byes into the second round.
Penn State (29-1) is the No. 1 seed in the East Regional. The Nittany Lions took over the No. 1 ranking last week after Virginia lost to Clemson in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Penn State had been No. 1 for a week in January.
"This time we'll try to hang onto it a little longer," Penn State coach Rene Portland said.
Penn State's first game will be at home Saturday against the James Madison-Kentucky first-round winner.
Virginia (27-2), which fell to No. 2 in the poll, opens as the Midwest Regional's No. 1 seed Sunday at home against the Stephen F. Austin-Mississippi winner.
"As far as being in the Midwest, of course we would have liked to stay in the East, but we have to concentrate on our first-round game, and we're fortunate to have that at home," UVa coach Debbie Ryan said Sunday. "I think we could have a tremendous crowd advantage. I'm hoping our fans will fill University Hall."
Asked if the loss to Clemson cost her team a No. 1 seed in the East, Ryan said, "That's hard to say. If we had not lost, I'm not sure we would have stayed in the East because the regional is in Pennsylvania [Philadelphia] and Penn State, with its fans so close by, will add financially to the tournament."
No. 3 Tennessee (25-5), the top seed in the Mideast Regional, opens at home Saturday against the Southwest Missouri State-Tennessee Tech winner, and fourth-ranked Georgia (26-3), the No. 1 seed in the West, begins play Sunday at home against the UNLV-Texas Tech first-round winner.
All but two of the teams with first-round byes play their second-round games at home. The two teams are in the Midwest Regional and will be forced to start on the road to lower-seeded teams.
Michigan State (21-7), the No. 4 seed in the region, will open its tournament either at Oklahoma State or DePaul, while LSU, ranked 10th in the poll, will open at either Lamar or Texas as the second seed in the Midwest.
Penn State is making its ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament, as are North Carolina State, Texas and Auburn. N.C. State is the second seed in the East, Texas is seventh-seeded in the Midwest, and Auburn is the No. 3 seed in the Mideast.
Making their tournament debuts are George Washington, Lamar, Michigan State, Southwest Missouri State, Toledo and Washington State.
The seven SEC teams in the tournament are Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi, LSU and Vanderbilt.
by CNB