Southwest Minnesota State and Northern State captured the Northern Sun Conference men’s and women’s basketball titles Tuesday night.

– Southwest Minnesota State used 20 points from both Joey Bartlett and Ryan Bruggeman to earn a 71-58 victory over Upper Iowa at the Sanford Pentagon.

SMSU, 26-5 overall, earns the NSIC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament held March 11-12, 14 at a site to be determined. The 64-team field will be announced this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. CST on NCAA.com.

UIU, which drops to 22-10 on the season, defeated SMSU twice during the regular season. UIU will now await word for a possible NCAA at-large bid.

In a back and forth defensive battle, the Northern State University women’s basketball team sealed a 55-52 victory in the NSIC Finals over reigning champions, the Sioux Falls Cougars.

The title marks the second in three years for the Wolves who now qualify for the Central Region Tournament for the fourth-straight season. Jill Conrad was named the tournament’s most valuable player as she averaged 15.8 points, seven rebounds and shot 51.9 percent from the field in the four games of the tournament.