Lady Jackets Remain at No. 8 in Regional Poll (Feb. 23, 2005)

BILLINGS, MT – With just two weeks left in the regular season, the Montana State-Billings women’s basketball team held onto the eighth spot in this week’s NCAA West Region poll.  The top eight teams in the final regional poll are invited to the NCAA Tournament.  The next regular season poll will be released on March 2, and the poll that seeds the regional tournaments will be announced on March 6.

MSU Billings improved to 17-6 with a 59-34 regional win at Western Oregon Tuesday night.  The Yellowjackets are one of five teams—ranked fifth through ninth—with identical records. 

The Jackets have three games remaining on their regular season schedule.  They play at Rocky Mountain on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and finish with games at Western New Mexico on March 3 and 5.  Three wins would likely put the Yellowjackets into the tournament.

Seattle Pacific and Western Washington held onto the top two spots, where they have been all season.  The top ranked team in the region will host the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  SPU and WWU are followed by Cal State-Dominguez Hills and Cal State-Chico at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.  The next six teams in the poll are battling for the final four spots in the tournament.

NCAA Women’s Basketball West Region Poll (through games of 2/20/05)
(rank, overall record, regional record)

1. Seattle Pacific (21-2, 18-1)
2. Western Washington (21-3, 17-3)
3. Cal State-Dominguez Hills (16-6, 15-2)
4. Cal State-Chico (18-5, 16-5)
5. St. Martin’s (17-6, 13-5)
6. Cal State-Bakersfield (17-6, 13-5)
7. Cal Poly Pomona (17-6, 13-6)
8. Montana State-Billings (17-6, 11-4)
9. Cal State-San Bernardino (17-6, 12-5)
10. UC-San Diego (14-9, 11-6)