Tiger women host early-round NCAA action Friday and Saturday

The 27-1 DePauw women's basketball team opens NCAA Division III Championship play on Friday, March 7, when it hosts a first-round game against 24-3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.).

The other first-round matchup in Neal Fieldhouse pits No. 25 Ohio Northern (23-5) against Transylvania (25-2).

Game times and ticket information will be released later.

The Tigers are making their 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III postseason and 15th in the last 19 seasons. DePauw won the Division III championship last year and in 2007 and also finished third in 2002.

Although the Tigers are the defending national champions and the third-ranked team in the country, the regional format of the Division III playoffs has done them no favors, as they must fight their way through a region featuring four of the top 10 teams in the nation and nine of the top 25.

Should the Tigers successfully defend their homecourt this weekend, possible matchups with either No. 2 Hope (27-0) or No. 9 Carthage (24-3) could await.

The other half of the bracket may be even more stacked, as it features No. 5 Washington-St. Louis, No. 12 Wisconsin-Oshkosk, No. 13 Wisconsin-Whitewater, No. 15 St. Thomas and No. 19 St. Mary's.