Warrensburg, Mo. (Mar. 7, 2000) -- March Madness is here for the basketball Jennies of Central Missouri State University as they have earned their third bid in the last four years to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. They are one of six teams chosen to compete in the South Central Regional, which will take place Friday through Sunday, Mar. 10-12, at White Auditorium in Emporia, Kan.

The Jennies have received the No. 5 seed for the single-elimination event and will play fourth-seeded Missouri Western State College in first-round action on Friday at 9 p.m. Friday's other first-round game will pit sixth-seeded Southwest Baptist University against No. 3 West Texas A&M University at 7 p.m.

Should the Jennies win on Friday, they will advance to the semifinals on Saturday and face top-seeded and host Emporia State University at 9 p.m., while the Southwest Baptist-West Texas A&M winner will draw No. 2 seed Texas A&M University-Kingsville in the other semifinal at 7 p.m. The title game is slated for 6 p.m. on Sunday, with that winner advancing to the Elite Eight in Pine Bluff, Ark., on Mar. 22-25.

All of the Jennies' post-season contests will be broadcast on KLRQ Radio of Clinton, Mo. (96.1 FM), with air time slated for 15 minutes prior to tipoff. The broadcasts can also be heard via the Internet at http://www.klrq.com or on TEAMLINE (dial 1-800-846-4700, use access code 3946 and a credit card).

The Jennies, who were ranked 20th in the USA TODAY/WBCA Division II Coaches Top 25 final regular-season poll, will be making their 13th NCAA Tournament appearance overall, which is tops among schools in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. They have won six regional titles (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990) and one national crown (1984) as NCAA members.

The Jennies will enter the regional with a 22-6 record after beating Washburn University 62-52 in the first round of the MIAA Post-Season Tournament on Feb. 28 at home, but falling 53-51 to Missouri Western in the semifinals on Mar. 1 in Warrensburg. Despite that setback, they have still won six of their last eight outings, eight of their last 11, 14 of their last 18, 21 of their last 26 and 30 of their last 38 overall dating back to the final month of the 1998-99 season.

Missouri Western will enter Friday's contest with a 21-8 record and has earned its sixth NCAA berth. The Lady Griffons, who won regional titles in 1994 and 1995, are coming off an 88-76 loss to Emporia State in the MIAA Tournament title tilt on Mar. 3. They won two-out-of-three meetings with CMSU this season as they overcame a 84-49 loss to the Jennies in Warrensburg on Jan. 8 to claim a 73-65 verdict in St. Joseph on Feb. 5 and a 53-51 decision in the league tourney semifinals last week, but trail 16-14 in the all-time series.

Two-time defending regional champion Emporia State will enter the regional with a 26-3 record. The eighth-ranked Lady Hornets have earned their fourth straight NCAA tourney bid and have won both the MIAA regular-season and post-season tournament titles each of the past three seasons, making them the first team to do so since CMSU turned the trick from 1988-90. ESU swept the season series from the Jennies, handing them an 85-83 overtime loss in Warrensburg on Jan. 29 and a 96-62 setback in Emporia on Feb. 26, but trail in the all-time series 22-12. The Lady Hornets have won their last 54 outings in White Auditorium.

Meanwhile, in the other bracket, Southwest Baptist will enter the regional with a 19-9 overall record. The Lady Bearcats, who have received their fourth NCAA bid, have lost five of their last six outings. Their only win during that stretch was a 71-62 decision at Truman State University in the first round of the MIAA tourney on Feb. 28 as they fell 102-64 at Emporia State in the semifinals on Mar. 1. SBU was swept by the Jennies in MIAA play this season, losing 72-55 at home on Jan. 25 and 51-47 in Warrensburg on Feb. 23, and now trail in the all-time series with CMSU by a 30-3 margin.

West Texas A&M will enter the regional with a 23-6 record and will be making its 11th tourney trip. The 18th-rated Lady Buffs have won nine of their last 11 outings, but were runners-up to Texas A&M-Kingsville in both the Lone Star Conference's regular-season South Division standings (with a 13-3 league mark) and tournament, losing 82-67 at TAMUK in the title game on Mar. 4. All four meetings between WTAMU and CMSU have come in the South Central Regional finals. The Jennies were 63-62 and 67-63 winners in 1989 and 1990, respectively, after the Lady Buffs took 67-57 and 61-46 decisions in 1987 and 1988, respectively.

Texas A&M-Kingsville will also put a 23-6 record on the line during the regional, but will be making only its second appearance in the tourney. The Javelinas, who have won 18 of their last 19 outings, claimed the Lone Star Conference's South Division crown with a 15-1 league mark and swept past Northeastern State University 68-47, Ouachita Baptist University 82-74 in overtime and West Texas A&M 82-67 at home to capture the conference tournament championship. TAMUK has lost the only two meetings with CMSU as the Jennies won 70-49 in Kingsville in 1984-85 and 61-52 in the 1995 High Desert Classic in Las Vegas.

The Jennies had two players named to the MIAA All-Conference Team announced on Monday. Guard Lori Nichols (So., Nevada, Mo., NHS) was a first-team selection after earning honorable-mention honors as a freshman, while guard Molly Knobbe (So., Cimarron, Kan., CHS) was an honorable-mention pick. Head coach Scott Ballard was also named coach of the year in the MIAA for the second time in his career as he also shared the honor in 1991-92 while coaching at Missouri Southern State College.

Nichols leads the Jennies and is 15th in the MIAA in scoring with a 13.3 points-per-game average and is third in the league in both three-point field goals made per game (2.3) and three-point field-goal percentage (.361). Knobbe tops CMSU and is fourth in the conference in assists (3.9 avg.), while ranking third in the MIAA in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8:1) and fifth in free-throw percentage (.762).