[03/12/01] The Alcorn State Lady Braves won their sixth Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship on Saturday and earned the school’s second straight berth in the NCAA tournament.

The Lady Braves (20-10), a No. 16 seed, will play top-seeded Notre Dame in the first round of the Midwest Regional in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday.

The Lady Irish (28-2), who finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls, are coming off a 78-76 loss to Connecticut in the championship game of the Big East tournament. The Lady Irish are currently sporting the AP No.2 ranking.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Alcorn coach Shirly Walker said in the The Clarion Ledger. “But we’re excited to be there. The only thing we can do is go up there, stay within our system and do the best we can.”

The Lady Braves are coming off a 86-74 win over Grambling State in the SWAC championship Saturday. The team shot 56.5 percent from the field.

Alcorn State was led by senior forward Cherica Wood, who was named SWAC Player of the Year, with a career-high 34 points and 12 rebounds. She was 14-of-17 from the floor.

Mississippi State, Ole Miss earn bids to Women’s NIT

Sharon Fanning’s Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs entered the season sporting a top-25 ranking.

However, the Lady Bulldogs struggled all year and finished with a 15-13 record after making an NCAA Tournament trip last year.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss (17-12) received bids Sunday to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

Mississippi State will host Georgia Tech Thursday and the Lady Rebels will travel to Bowling Green, Ky., to play Western Kentucky (17-13) on Wednesday.