Complete NCAA BracketFor the second time in five years, the Muhlenberg women's basketball team was sent to upstate New York for the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The Centennial Conference-champion Mules (20-7) will travel to Geneseo State to face Cabrini in a first-round game on Friday at a time to be determined. Geneseo will host Castleton in the other first-round game, with the winners meeting Saturday night for the right to advance to the "Sweet 16."
Although it's the opposite direction from where most Muhlenberg students go over Spring Break, traveling north has suited the women's basketball team just fine. Both of the Mules' "Sweet 16" appearances came when they were sent north: in 2009 to Bowdoin and in 2011 to Rochester.
Muhlenberg enters the NCAA Tournament on a roll, having won 17 of its last 19 following a 3-5 start. The Mules captured their eighth CC title with wins over Johns Hopkins and McDaniel over the weekend and rank fifth in Division III in field-goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 31.1-percent shooting. They are 7-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
Cabrini (24-3) is even hotter, bringing an 18-game winning streak into the NCAAs. The 21st-ranked Cavaliers won their third straight Colonial States Athletic Conference title by defeating Keystone and Immaculata after sweeping through the CSAC regular season undefeated. Since opening the season with back-to-back losses to Eastern and Widener, Cabrini has lost only once: by one point to Thomas More, the top-ranked team in Division III. The Cavaliers are 1-8 in eight previous NCAA appearances, with their lone win coming against Moravian last year.
The two teams have two common opponents. Cabrini defeated Scranton - at the time ranked sixth in Division III - by a score of 37-35 a month after Muhlenberg lost to Scranton in the Scotty Wood Tournament final. The Cavaliers also have a win against Ursinus, a team the Mules defeated twice.
Muhlenberg holds a 3-2 series lead against Cabrini, but the teams have not played each other since 1990.
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