Iowa Wesleyan learns 1st-round opponent

MT. PLEASANT — It will be an All-Iowa matchup when the Iowa Wesleyan women’s basketball team heads to Sioux City next week for the first round of the NAIA tournament.

The Tigers gathered round with a group of fans to watch the women’s tournament selection show on Thursday evening, and it didn’t take long until the Iowa Wesleyan name popped up.

Iowa Wesleyan earned the No. 15 seed in the ‘Naismith Quadrant,’ which was the first region revealed. The Tigers will play a true road game against No. 2 seed Morningside University, which gets to play on its own home court.

“ I knew we'd get a higher seed, just because it's our first year back and our strength of schedule isn't the best,” said head coach Steve Williamson. “I really didn't want to go to Sioux City to play on Morningside's home court, but you get a chance to play, and anything can happen at this point.”

Morningside was ranked sixth in the final NAIA women’s basketball poll of the year. The Mustangs went 27-5 this year, similar to Iowa Wesleyan’s 19-5 mark.

“We used to play them a lot in the past,” said Williamson. “Coach (Jamie) Sale is a great coach, and they have a strong tradition. They've got some great guards, and they shoot the ball really well.”

The Tigers will enter the tournament having won nine of their last 10 games, including the last three. They dominated the Continental Athletic Conference tournament, winning every game in blowout fashion.

“Our last three games have been by far the best basketball we've played all year,” Williamson said. “They're locked in, and they've really came together. They're really starting to play together.”

The Tigers were the top seed in that tournament. The squad, which has just seven players on the active roster, will now take on the underdog role.

“I feel like all season we've been seen as the underdog, just because we have seven people,” said CAC Player of the Year Kyla Moore. “It's kind of like just another game where people think just because there is only seven, we won't be able to compete with them.”

The Tigers are still riding the high from an exciting CAC tournament championship, which took place on the Tigers’ home court last weekend. The tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, senior Brittany West, says the atmosphere is still on her mind.

“The tournament this last weekend, that atmosphere was unstoppable,” West said. “There was something about it. I keep thinking about it.”

West, Moore and the rest of the Tigers will have their hands full with Round 1, which takes place on Friday, March 11. If they can get by Morningside, they will play either seventh-seeded Georgetown (Ky.) or No. 10 seed Southern Oregon on Saturday.

“It's March,” West said. “In March basketball, anything can happen.”