Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

March 12, 2004

Women's NCAA tournament returns to Hilton this month

by Anne Krapfl
Four university women's basketball teams will play at Hilton Coliseum Sunday and Tuesday, March 21 and 23, as part of sub-regional play in the 2004 NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) women's national tournament. The 64-team field, including the four teams that will play in Ames, will be announced on ESPN television at 4 p.m. (central time) Sunday, March 14.

2004 marks the fifth time in six years that Iowa State will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. Hilton also was a site for the third and fourth rounds in 2002.

Iowa State has a reputation for hosting successful tournaments, said Calli Sanders, ISU associate athletics director who chairs the tournament planning group.

"We have a successful program and Iowa State fans have shown they will support women's basketball. All of that is attractive to the NCAA," Sanders said.

"This is a great opportunity to showcase our university and our city on a national level," she added, noting that all first- and second-round games will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.

Last year marked the first time in the women's tournament that the initial 16 sites were pre-selected. Previously, the top-seeded team in each of 16 sub-regionals became the automatic host site.

This spring, any team among the 16 host schools that competes in the tournament will play in its home arena. Eventually, Sanders said, the first- and second-round sites will be neutral to the four teams playing there, as occurs in the men's tournament. Next year's field of 64 teams will play first- and second-round games at just eight sites.

Two-day tickets, $25 for reserved seating in the lower half of Hilton, are available now at the ISU ticket office, Olsen Building, or by calling 4-1816. Two-day reserved seats in the balcony are $15. Single-game tickets will be available the week of March 15.