UNIONTOWN, Pa. – Penn State Fayette’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will begin play in the 2012 United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Basketball Championships on Wednesday, March 7 on campus.
The Lady Roaring Lions (15-7), champions of the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference, received the No. 13 seed and will face No.4 Selma University, Selma, Ala. at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Center Main Arena.
Fayette’s men’s team (11-14) is the No. 10 seed and will face the No. 7 St. Joseph’s College, Rutland, Vt., at 7:30 p.m.
A total of 34 teams will compete for championships in three divisions: Men’s Division I, Men’s Division II and Womens. A total of 43 games will be played on the Fayette Campus in the Community Center Main Arena and the Maltho Athletic Center.
The tournament kicks off on Tuesday, March 6 with the skills competition at 2 p.m. in the Main Arena. Championship play begins on Wednesday, March 7 and will continue through March 10. For the most complete schedule check the USCAA’s website at theuscaa.com.
Admission to the skills competition is free. Daily admission for championship play is $7.
Defending Men’s Division I champion Southern Virginia University, Buena Vista, Va., returns to defend its title as the No. 2 seed. Also in the field are (with seeds in parenthesis): Rochester College, Rochester, Mich. (1), Lindenwood-Belleville College, Belleville, Ill. (3), Washington Adventist University, Washington, D.C. (4), Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Fla. (5), Apprentice School, Hampton, Va. (6), Oakwood University, Huntsville, Ala. (7) and The University of Maine-Fort Kent, Fort Kent, Maine (8).
Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Mich. (1) returns to defend its Men’s Division II title. In addition to Fayette, the Men’s Division II field features two other Penn State Schools -- Penn State Beaver (2) and 2012 PSUAC Champions Penn State DuBois (4). Other schools include Central Pennsylvania College, Summerdale, Pa. (3), Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center, Vt. (5), Eastern Maine Community College, Bangor, Maine (6), St. Joseph’s College (7), Berkeley College, New York, N.Y. (8) and the University of Maine-Machias, Machias, Maine (9).
Total of 16 teams received bids to the Women’s Division championship. In addition to Fayette, the others are Rochester College, Rochester, Mich. (1), Apprentice School (2), Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y. (3), Selma (4), Southern Virginia (5), University of Cincinnati-Clermont, Batavia, Ohio (6), Concordia-Selma University, Selma, Ala. (7) and Robert Morris-Springfield, Springfield, Ill. (8).
Carlow College, Pittsburgh (9), Lindenwood-Belleville College (10), Spalding University, Louisville, Ky. (11), Berkeley College (12), Marygrove College, Detroit, Mich. (14), St. Mary of the Woods, St. Mary of the Woods, Ind. (15) and Central Maine Community College, Auburn, Maine (16) round out the women’s field.
For 2012, the USCAA has opted not to hold a complete consolation round. Instead teams are guaranteed a minimum of two games. Teams losing in the first round will play a single consolation game. Teams losing in quarterfinal round will not compete in a consolation game. Semifinal loser will play a third-place game.