Mississippi State earns No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament

Published 7:06 pm Monday, March 12, 2018

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time ever, Mississippi State’s women’s basketball team is on the top line of the NCAA Tournament bracket.

The Bulldogs, along with Connecticut, Louisville and Notre Dame, earned a No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament when the 64-team field was unveiled Monday night.

Mississippi State (32-1) will face Nicholls State (19-13) in a first-round game Saturday at 5 p.m. in Starkville. Syracuse (22-8) and Oklahoma State (20-10) will meet in the other first-round game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum. The winners will play in the second round on Monday.

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Nicholls State has won seven consecutive games, including three in the Southland Conference Tournament to earn its first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Mississippi State played and beat both Oklahoma State and Syracuse in December.

Mississippi State won 32 games in a row before falling to South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game. With most of their players back from last season’s runner-up finish — including Morgan Williams, who hit the game-winner in overtime to knock off UConn — the Bulldogs hope to make another deep NCAA run.

Mississippi State won’t have to face either UConn or South Carolina until the national championship game. South Carolina is the No. 2 seed in the Albany Regional, where UConn is the No. 1 seed.
MSU is in the Kansas City Regional, with Texas (26-6) as the No. 2 seed. UCLA (24-7) is the No. 3 seed, North Carolina State (24-8) the No. 4 and Maryland (25-7) the 5.

Louisville is the No. 1 seed in the Lexington Regional, and Notre Dame in the Spokane Regional.