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How to Watch Monmouth vs. Tennessee Tech in NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament First Four
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Thursday night, No. 16 seeds Monmouth and Tennessee Tech will battle it out in the First Four round of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament in Bloomington, Ind.
The winner will earn the daunting task of facing one-seed Indiana on its home court inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m.
The Monmouth Hawks, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, will travel from West Long Branch, N.J. for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 1982-83 season.
Under second year head coach Ginny Boggess, the Hawks finished with an 18-15 season record and 9-9 slate in conference. Monmouth recorded its second CAA Tournament victory in program history on Sunday after defeating one-seed Towson 80-55 in the title game where four Hawks reached double-figure scoring.
Monmouth is led by graduate student guard Bri Tinsley, who's averaging 12.1 points per game followed by junior guard Ariana Vanderhoop's 10.2 points. Six-foot-3-inch center Belle Kranbuhl crashes the boards with 6.3 boards per game and is also first in the conference averaging 1.9 blocks per contest.
The Hawks are actually seventh in their conference, but the tournament win is an automatic bid to the Big Dance as Monmouth is the only CAA team on a five-game winning streak or winning streak in general and the sole team of its conference to make it to the tournament.
Tennessee Tech coached by Kim Rosamond in her seventh season hails from the Ohio Valley Conference and also won its respective conference tournament with a 54-46 defeat over Little Rock on March 4. The Golden Eagles hold a 22-9 season record and 13-5 conference finish.
They lead the conference with 69.1 points per game and are third in defense allowing their opponents 62.4 points per contest as the only OVC team in the NCAA Tournament.
Senior guard Maaliya Owens leads the team with 14.7 points per game, which is fifth best in the OVC, followed by two other Eagles in double-figure scoring. Freshman guard Reghan Grimes leads the team with 5.8 boards per contest.
This year is the first time since 2000 the Golden Eagles have made it to the NCAA Tournament. Twenty-three years ago, Tennessee Tech fell to Texas Tech 83-54 in the first round as the Golden Eagles have only advanced past the first round three times in their 10 total NCAA appearances.
How to Watch No. 16 seed Monmouth vs. No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech
- Who: No. 16 Monmouth Hawks (18-15)(9-9) vs. No. 16 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (22-9)(13-5)
- When: Thursday, March 16, 2023, 9 p.m. ET
- Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall — Bloomington, Ind.
- Broadcast: ESPN2
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