CCAC News
Posted by Dave Laketa - Tue, Mar 4, 2008 - [ Women's Basketball - DI ] - Viewed 338 times
Jackie Heine and the SXU Cougars have many teams gunning for the defending champs.
Jackie Heine and the SXU Cougars have many teams gunning for the defending champs.

It wasn’t easy, but Saint Xavier University eventually claimed its sixth Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season women’s basketball title in the last seven years this past Saturday. Now the question becomes, can the Cougars make it three in a row and five of six Division I conference tournament championships?

The likes of Olivet Nazarene University, Robert Morris College, Indiana University South Bend, University of St. Francis and Illinois Institute of Technology will have something to say about that when the six-team, single-elimination tournament opens up at two sites on Tuesday, March 4.
 
Ranked No. 11 in the nation, Saint Xavier (22-7, 8-2) edged out No. 18-ranked Olivet Nazarene (22-6, 7-3) for the top seed in the tournament. Both will receive first-round byes.
 

Quarterfinal-round games begin with No. 3 seed Robert Morris College (18-12, 6-4), which ruined ONU’s shot at sharing the regular-season title with a 99-93 victory against the Tigers on Saturday (Mar. 1), hosting No. 6 Illinois Tech (11-19, 0-10) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. That winner faces Olivet Nazarene on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

In the other opening-round game, No. 4 seed St. Francis (17-13, 4-6), which upset Saint Xavier 75-64 on Feb. 26, travels to No. 5 Indiana South Bend (19-11, 5-5) in the rubber match of that three-game series at 5 p.m. CST. The two teams split their regular-season contests.

SXU (22-7, 8-2) gets that winner Thursday at 7 p.m.

The championship game will be played Saturday (March 8) at a time to be announced at the site of the highest remaining seed. That contest will be carried live on the CCAC web site.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Tuesday, March 4
#1 Saint Xavier (22-7) has a bye.
#2 Olivet Nazarene(22-6) has a bye.
#5 St. Francis (17-13) at #4 Indiana South Bend (19-11) --- 5 p.m.

#6 Illinois Institute of Technology (11-19) at #3 Robert Morris (18-12) --- 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 6
Illinois Tech/Robert Morris Winner at Olivet Nazarene--- 5:30 p.m.
St. Francis/Indiana South Bend Winner at Saint Xavier --- 7 p.m.

Saturday, March 8

Championship --- TBA (at site of highest remaining seed)