Northwestern University Athletics
2004 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Matchups Announced
2/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 29, 2004
2004 Big Ten Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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PARK RIDGE, Ill. - The bracket for the 2004 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament was announced on Sunday by Conference officials. The Tournament will take place at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., from Thursday, March 4, to Monday, March 8, with no games on Saturday, March 6. No. 11 seed Northwestern will face No. 6 Minnesota in the late game on Thursday.
The top five seeds of the Tournament receive opening-day byes. Penn State (23-4, 15-1 Big Ten) earned this year's No. 1 seed defeating Purdue, 69-60, on the final day of the regular season in a head-to-head battle for the League crown. The Lady Lions and the Boilermakers have now combined to take the last five Big Ten Championships. Penn State reached the Tournament final in 2002 and advanced to the semifinals of last year's event. The Lady Lions own a 6-2 record as the No. 1 seed in the Tournament. Penn State will face the winner of Game 1 on Friday, March 5, at 11 a.m. CST.
Purdue (24-3, 14-2 Big Ten), the No. 2 seed, owns a League-best 17-6 all-time record in the Big Ten Tournament and leads the Conference with four titles. The Boilermakers are the defending Tournament champions, having defeated Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State as the No. 3 seed in the 2003 event. Shereka Wright, a senior this season, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2003 Tournament. The Boilermakers will meet the winner of Game 2 at 5 p.m. CST on Friday.
Ohio State (19-8, 11-5 Big Ten) won nine of its final 10 games to finish third in the Big Ten standings and clinch the No. 3 seed. The Buckeyes made waves in the 2003 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament as the No. 4 seed, advancing all the way to the Championship game where they fell to Purdue by a narrow two-point margin, 67-65. Ohio State will play the winner of Game 3 at approximately 7:30 p.m. CST on Friday.
Iowa (16-11, 10-6 Big Ten), the No. 4 seed, will take on fifth-seeded Michigan State (20-7, 10-6 Big Ten) at approximately 1:30 p.m. CST on Friday. The game will pit the Hawkeyes' offense, the highest-scoring in the Big Ten at 74.0 ppg, against the Spartans' top-rated defense (55.1 opponent ppg). Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder, in her fourth season with the Hawkeyes, already has a Big Ten Tournament title to her credit. Iowa won the 2001 Tournament in Grand Rapids, Mich., defeating Purdue, 75-70, in the final. The contest will mark the first time in Michigan State head coach Joanne P. McCallie's four-year tenure that the Spartans have not been matched up with Ohio State in their Tournament opener.
The Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament's opening game will feature No. 8 seed Wisconsin (10-16, 4-12 Big Ten) against No. 9 seed Indiana (11-16, 4-12 Big Ten). The contest will tip off at 2 p.m. CST. The Badgers and the Hoosiers split a pair of regular-season games, with Wisconsin winning the most-recent matchup on February 22. Indiana made an impressive run to its first-ever Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament title in 2002 and is 5-2 at the Tournament under Kathi Bennett. Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone will be making her first appearance at the Tournament.
Thursday's second game will pit seventh-seeded Michigan (13-16, 6-10 Big Ten) against No. 10 seed Illinois (10-17, 4-12 Big Ten). Michigan has won its opening game in each of the last six Big Ten Tournaments, and has not lost a first-round game in the Tournament since 1997. Illinois is one of five Conference programs to own at least a .500 record in League postseason play, standing at 10-10 entering this year's event. The Ilini reached at least the semifinals each year from 1999 through 2001, advancing to the final in 1999.
The final game of the opening session will pit No. 6 seed Minnesota (20-7, 9-7 Big Ten) against 11th-seeded Northwestern (8-19, 1-15 Big Ten). Minnesota went undefeated in non-Conference play this season, but lost four of its final six League games after losing senior guard Lindsay Whalen on February 12. Nevertheless, the Gophers will be looking to chalk up their first win in the Big Ten Tournament since 1997. Northwestern has had several close calls in recent Tournaments, nearly defeating sixth-seeded Wisconsin as the No. 11 seed in 2002. The Wildcats will be striving for their first Conference postseason win since 2000.
Single-session tickets range from $10-$14 and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, including the Conseco Fieldhouse box office, Ticketmaster charge-by-phone numbers (317-239-5151 in central Indiana) and www.ticketmaster.com.
Ticketmaster charge-by-phone numbers local to Big Ten universities are: Champaign, Ill., (217) 351-2626; Bloomington, Ind., (812) 333-9955; Iowa City, Iowa, (319) 363-1888; Ann Arbor, Mich., (248) 645-6666; East Lansing, Mich., (517) 484-5656; Minneapolis, Minn., (651) 989-5151; Chicago / Evanston, Ill., (312) 559-1212; Columbus, Ohio, (614) 431-3600; University Park, Pa., (570) 693-4100; West Lafayette, Ind., (765) 743-5151 and Madison, Wis., (608) 255-4646.
Ticket packages for groups of 10 or more are available at a discount of $4 off per ticket, and can only be purchased by calling Indiana Sports Corporation (317) 237-5000/(800) HI-FIVES.
