South Dakota State was awarded the No. 12 seed in the Lexington region of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship and will face No. 5 seeded Miami in the first round, announced Monday night on the ESPN Selection Show.
SDSU and the Hurricanes square off in Palo Alto, California, in the tournaments first round Saturday at approximately 5:30 p.m. CT. The contest will be the first meeting between the two schools.
The advancing team will play the winner of No. 4 Stanford and No. 13 San Francisco Monday.
South Dakota State (26-6) completed its 10th 20-win season in the last 12 years and makes its seventh appearance in the NCAA Championship. The Jacks are 1-6 in the championship and 2016 is the first time the Jackrabbits earned the No. 12 seed. SDSU’s highest seed came as the seventh seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Jackrabbits have been No. 13 twice, No. 14 twice and No. 15.
Miami went 24-8 overall and 10-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hurricanes, who lost to Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament semifinals, finished the regular season ranked No. 19 in both The Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.
Miami is led by Adrienne Motley, a 5-foot-9 junior guard who averages 15.6 points per game. Jessica Thomas, a 5-6 junior guard, averages 11.9 points and Keyona Hayes, a 6-1 junior forward, leads the squad at 5.6 rebounds per contest.
