The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced its women’s pairings for the 2009 MEAC Basketball Tournament, March 9-14 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (LJVM) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. North Carolina A&T clinched the tournament’s top seed after concluding the regular-season with a 15-1 mark in MEAC play.
The Lady Aggies earned their second tournament first-round bye and will open up play on Wednesday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m. They will face the winner of the No. 8 Howard/No. 9 Bethune-Cookman matchup.
The defending MEAC Tournament Champion Coppin State Lady Eagles clinched the second seed with a 61-53 win over Morgan State. The Lady Eagles, winners of three of the last four MEAC tournament titles, concluded conference play with a 12-4 record and will meet the winner of the No. 7 Florida A&M/No. 10 South Carolina State game on Wednesday, March 11 at 10 a.m.
Delaware State (11-5) fell to the number three seed with a 55-52 loss to Maryland Eastern Shore. The Lady Hornets will take on the winner of No. 6 Hampton/No. 11 Norfolk State on Thursday, March 12 at Noon. Maryland Eastern Shore secured the number four seed with the victory and will take on No. 5 Morgan State at 2:30 p.m.
Morgan State and Hampton both finished the conference schedule with a 9-7 mark. The Lady Bears secured the number five seed in a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Lady Pirates. Hampton will face cross-town rival Norfolk State, the number 11 seed, in a matchup at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10.
Florida A&M defeated Bethune-Cookman, 57-50, and Howard topped Hampton, 69-49, to finish with similar 7-9 records in conference play. The Lady Rattlers won the lone meeting over Howard to secure the seventh seed, while the Lady Bison will compete as the eighth seed.
Bethune-Cookman (4-12), South Carolina State (3-13) and Norfolk State (1-15) are seeded ninth through 11th, respectively.
The 2009 MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off Tuesday, March 10, and will conclude on Saturday, March 14 with the men’s and women’s championship games. The women will tip off at 12 noon. The game will air taped delayed on ESPNU, March 15 at 11 a.m. The men’s finale is set for 7 p.m. Saturday and will air live also on ESPNU. Check your local listings for channel information.
Tickets for the tournament are on sale now at www.MEAChoops.com, at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com or at any MEAC member institution.