March 14, 2011

2011 NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's basketball earned the No. 1 seed in the Spokane Region and will face No. 16 seed UC Davis in Saturday's first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, the NCAA announced Monday.

No. 2/2 Stanford (29-2), the Pac-10's automatic qualifier following the capture of its eighth Pac-10 Tournament title, and fifth in a row, this past Saturday, faces Big West Conference champion UC Davis Saturday, March 19, at 3:30 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.

Both contests will be aired by one channel of the ESPN family of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2 and online on ESPN3.

For the Cardinal it is the program's 24th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and 25th overall. Monday's announcement also marks the eighth time that Stanford has received a No. 1 seed in the draw. Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won two national championships (1990 and 1992), reached nine Final Fours (1990-92, 1994-96, 2008-10), including the past three in a row, 13 Elite Eights, 17 Sweet 16s and compiled an overall NCAA Tournament record of 61-22.

Stanford will open NCAA Tournament play at Maples Pavilion for the 16th time this weekend. The Cardinal boasts an all-time record of 24-4 in NCAA Tournament games played at Maples Pavilion, and is currently on a program-record 61-game winning streak in the building.

The Cardinal brings an overall record of 29-2 and a 23-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, and is led by the play of Pac-10 Player of the Year Jeanette Pohlen (15.2 ppg, 4.74 apg, 41.9 3-pt. FG pct.), Pac-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player Nnemkadi Ogwumike (16.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 57.8 FG pct.), Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Chiney Ogwumike (11.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 58.1 FG pct.) and All-Pac-10 Team pick Kayla Pedersen (12.9 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 46.8 FG pct.).

UC Davis (24-8) earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid this past Saturday with a 66-49 upset of top-seeded Cal Poly in the Big West Tournament final. The Aggies are coached by Sandy Simpson, who before the season announced his retirement following the 2010-11 campaign after 14 seasons on the Aggie bench.

The Cardinal and Aggies have met three times over the past four regular seasons, with the Cardinal coming out victorious each time, most recently earning a 76-51 win in Davis on Nov. 22, 2009.