Iowa women earn No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament
The Hawkeyes will face a Mercer squad that is on a roll for their first game of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Iowa center Megan Gustafson keeps the ball away from Maryland players during the women’s Big Ten Championship basketball game vs. Maryland at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Sunday, March 10, 2019. The Hawkeyes defeated the Terrapins 90-76 and are the Big Ten champions.
March 18, 2019
The Iowa women’s basketball team will officially host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament after drawing a No. 2 seed and a matchup with No. 15 Mercer on Monday.
The Hawkeyes (26-6) will play the Bears (25-7) at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Iowa is coming off a Big Ten Tournament run in which it was crowned champion after topping Indiana, Rutgers, and Maryland. The win marked the Hawkeyes’ first conference title since 2001.
Mercer, though, has mounted a run of its own in recent weeks. The Bears are also coming off a conference title run, beating Western Carolina, Wofford, and Furman for the Southern Conference Tournament Championship.
The Bears, who enter the contest on a 17-game win streak, are led by KeKe Calloway, who averages 17.9 points per game on 39.3 percent shooting with 4.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 steals.