UNC Pembroke to Face No. 13 Catawba in Women’s Basketball Southeast Regional
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SALISBURY, N.C. – UNC Pembroke, the 2023 Conference Carolinas Women’s Basketball Tournament champion, received the league’s automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship where they are the No. 8 seed and will face Southeast Region No. 1 seed, regional host and 13th-ranked Catawba on Friday, March 10 at 5 p.m. in Salisbury, North Carolina.
The Braves are 22-9 on the season and are riding a three-game win streak. They are 17-3 all-time against the Indians and have won the past two meetings including a 67-58 triumph in Pembroke earlier this season. The two teams have not played in Salisbury since Dec. 30, 2004.
UNC Pembroke, making its first appearance in the 64-team tournament, is led by its defense which is ranked second in NCAA Division II in field goal percentage defense (.335) and sixth in scoring defense (53.9 points/game allowed). The Braves have held 20 opponents to sub-35 percent shooting in 2022-23, while also holding foes to 50 points or less in a dozen outings. UNCP also ranks third among the 13 Conference Carolinas squads with a +3.16 turnover margin.
Individually, the Braves are led by Conference Carolinas Tournament Most Outstanding Player Kalaya Hall. The junior averaged 19.3 points, six rebounds, three assists and 2.7 steals in the three UNCP wins in the tournament. On the year, Courtney Smith, who is out for the season with an injury, led the team at 12.2 points per contest. Zaria Clark is second on the team with 11.2 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per contest while Hall averages 9.9 points per game.
Catawba enters the contest 25-5 on the season and is coming off a 68-63 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne in the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. Prior to the setback the Indians had won 10 straight games. Catawba averages nearly 73 points per game while permitting just 60.4. They also average 21 forced turnovers per contest and ranked 17th in NCAA II in steals per game (11.6) and 18th in turnover margin (+5.3). The Indians are led by Lyrik Thorne who averages 19.5 points per contest and a team-high 2.6 steals per game.
The UNC Pembroke-Catawba winner will square off against fourth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne (24-7) or fifth-seeded Clayton State (18-11) in the second round. In the other part of the bracket No. 2 Wingate (22-7) faces No. 7 North Georgia (19-10) and No. 3 Georgia Southwestern (24-6) squares off against No. 6 USC Aiken (18-11).
Twenty-three conferences have been awarded automatic qualification. The remaining 41 teams were selected at large by the committee. Eight eight-team regionals will be played at on-campus sites March 9-13. The eight regional champions advancing to the Women’s Elite Eight will be seeded by the Women's Basketball Committee after completion of the regionals.
The quarterfinals and semifinals of the 2023 NCAA Division II Women’s Elite Eight will be held at the St. Joseph Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Missouri, March 20 and 22. Missouri Western State University and the St. Joseph Sports Commission will serve as hosts.
The championship game will be contested April 1 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four.
Information, including tickets, live stats, video and team information, for the Southeast Regional hosted by Catawba at the Goodman Gym is available here.