INDIANAPOLIS – For the fourth time in program history, the Fort Hays State women’s basketball team heard its name called in the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship Selection Show on Sunday (March 4). The sixth-seeded Tigers will travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. next weekend where they will take on No. 3 Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday (March 9). Game times are to be announced.

This will be the Tigers’ third trip to the dance in the last four years. Fort Hays State earned the No. 1 seed and hosted the regional in 2015 before playing as the No. 5 seed in the 2016 tournament. The program’s other trip to the NCAA postseason came in 2005.

Fort Hays State earned an at-large bid into the Central Region Tournament after compiling a record of 25-6 so far this season. They are one of three schools representing the MIAA, with regular season champion Central Missouri earning the No. 2 seed and tournament champion Lindenwood securing the No. 8 seed. The NSIC also placed three teams in the tournament, while two teams from the GAC will head to Sioux Falls.

The winners in Friday’s four quarterfinal contests will advance to the semifinals on Saturday (March 10) before the regional championship is decided on Monday evening (March 12).

This year’s central regional will be held inside the Elmen Center on the campus of Augustana University, the top seed in the region.

The Tigers are 2-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with both wins coming in 2015 when FHSU hosted the central region tournament. FHSU is 2-2 in the tournament under head coach Tony Hobson.

Fort Hays State is 3-0 all-time against Southwestern Oklahoma State, with the most recent meeting coming in the 1991 NAIA Championship Game.