STANDISH, Maine – The 2017 NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament bracket has been announced and Saint Joseph's College (24-4, 15-1 GNAC) is slated to play #3 Tufts University (25-2, 9-1 NESCAC) in first round action at Cousens Gym in Medford, Massachusetts on Friday evening.
Game times and ticket information will be released on gomonks.com at some point on Tuesday following a conference call with NCAA officials. COMPLETE BRACKET
The Monks, led by 25th-year Head Coach Mike McDevitt '83, will be making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in the last four seasons after winning the GNAC Championship, thus claiming the conference's automatic qualifier, with an 81-70 overtime victory over Emmanuel College at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday.
The Jumbos, who fell to #1 Amherst College in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship on Saturday, have been a model of success over the last six seasons under 15th-year head coach Carla Berube, as the Jumbos have recorded a 17-7 mark in the NCAA Tournament over that span. The Jumbos have reached the Final Four in three consecutive seasons while posting an outstanding 13-5 mark on the NCAA stage from 2014-16. The squad reached the Final Four for the first time in program history during the 2013-14 season, and then competed in the national championship last April for the first time in school history, falling short, 63-51, to Thomas More at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Saint Joseph's and Tufts have tussled in the NCAA Tournament before, as the Jumbos defeated the Monks, 66-43, at Cousens Gym in the first round of the 2014 tourney. No stranger to hosting NCAA Tournament action, the Jumbos are serving as an opening-round host for the sixth consecutive season and ninth time in program history.
The other Friday night game in the four-team pod at Tufts will feature Husson University (22-4, 16-2 NAC) and DeSales (20-7, 11-3 MAC Freedom), with the winner facing the Saint Joseph's/Tufts victor at Cousens Gym on Saturday.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
