SSC Announces Women’s Basketball Tournament Pairings

ORLANDO, Fla. - The pairings are set for the 2013 Sunshine State Conference Women's Basketball Championship, which will be held March 6-10 at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla. UT will meet Eckerd in Thursday's quarterfinals.

The tournament will tip-off with an opening round game between No. 8 Barry and No. 9 Florida Southern on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The Buccaneers (14-12 overall) completed the regular season with a 5-11 SSC mark, while the Moccasins' (10-16) final tally was 4-12.

The winner of that contest will move on to Thursday's women's quarterfinals to face top-seeded Nova Southeastern. The Sharks (19-7 overall) shared the SSC regular-season title with Lynn (18-8), as each team compiled an 11-5 conference record. NSU clinched the top seed by sweeping the Knights in the teams' regular-season series. The Sharks will play the opening-round winner at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

As the No. 2 seed in the bracket, Lynn will play No. 7 Saint Leo (12-14, 7-9 SSC) in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Thursday's other quarterfinal contests also required some tiebreaking to arrive at the match-ups.

Eckerd is the No. 3 seed, posting a 9-7 record in league play and a 14-11 overall slate. The Tritons finished with the same 9-7 league record as fourth-seeded Rollins (18-8 overall). Having split their season series, Eckerd gained the tiebreaker advantage by defeating No. 1 Nova Southeastern 63-61 on Feb. 6. The Tars were swept by NSU in the teams' regular-season series.

In similar fashion, Florida Tech (16-10) and Tampa (18-8) finished with an identical 8-8 conference record. The teams split their regular-season series. Tech gained the advantage and the No. 5 seed with an 83-73 win over top-seeded Nova Southeastern on Jan. 23. No. 6 Tampa was swept by the Sharks in the teams' regular-season contests.

Given those outcomes, Thursday's quarterfinals will pit No. 3 Eckerd against No. 6 Tampa at 7:30 p.m. No. 4 Rollins and No. 5 Florida Tech will square off in the first quarterfinal game at noon.

Thursday's winners will advance to semifinal action at noon and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The women's final will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

All 16 games of the SSC Basketball Championships will be streamed live on sunshinestateconference.com. Live stats for each contest will also be made available on the SSC website via Stat Broadcast. Results and the tournament bracket will be updated daily on the "SSC Basketball Tournament Central" page on sunshinestateconference.com.

Those wishing to attend the games in-person at Silver Spurs Arena can purchase tickets at the box office window. Single session tickets are $10 at the door. Students attending SSC institutions (with proper ID) and children under 6 will be admitted free of charge.

2013 SSC Women's Basketball Championship Schedule
Opening Round - Wednesday, March 6
Game 1 - 5:00 p.m. - No. 8 Barry vs. No. 9 Florida Southern

Women's Quarterfinals - Thursday, March 7
Game 3 - 12:00 p.m. - No. 4 Rollins vs. No. 5 Florida Tech
Game 4 - 2:30 p.m. - Opening-Round Winner vs. No. 1 Nova Southeastern
Game 5 - 5:00 p.m. - No. 2 Lynn vs. No. 7 Saint Leo
Game 6 - 7:30 p.m. - No. 3 Eckerd vs. No. 6 Tampa

Women's Semifinals - Saturday, March 9
Game 11 - 12:00 p.m. - Game 3 Winner v. Game 4 Winner
Game 12 - 2:30 p.m. - Game 5 Winner v. Game 6 Winner

Women's Final - Sunday, March 10
Women's Championship - 1:00 p.m. - Game 11 Winner v. Game 12 Winner