Women’s Basketball in the 2011 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament!

Dear Lewis & Clark Community Members,

As many of you know, our Women’s Basketball team was the conference regular-season co-champion, the first time the team has won or shared the regular-season championship.  Congratulations to Head Coach Juli Fulks, her staff, and all the student-athletes as the team also received significant recognition for their season with several honors; you can read more about them here:  http://lcpioneers.com/sports/wbkb/2010-11/releases/20110225wx9icn.

However, I am thrilled to announce that as a result of their outstanding regular season the team earned its first ever trip to the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament!  The Pioneers learned on Monday that they earned an at-large bid that will take them to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where they will face Howard Payne University in the first round this Friday (3/4).

We will be hosting a tournament viewing party this Friday as the Pioneers play their first round game and all are welcome to attend.  It will be held this Friday (3/4) at 3:00pm PST in Council Chamber of Templeton Student Center.  If you are not able to make it but would enjoy watching the game while at home or the office, you can stream it on your computer at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/coe.portal#.  The webcast is free and we encourage you to tune in and cheer on the Pioneers.

If the Pioneers win on Friday they will take on the winner of Coe/Minnesota-Morris at 5:00pm PST Saturday and we will again host a viewing party in the Council Chamber.  You can check out the Division III bracket at http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-women/d3/2011 and as always you can check for updates on our athletics home page at http://www.lcpioneers.com/landing/index

The next time you see Coach Fulks and members of the team, please congratulate them on their amazing season.  I am so proud of them & all of our student-athletes and I know you share that pride as well.  While the Pioneers have done extremely well this year, they aren’t finished yet - the National Championship Tournament awaits this weekend, so join us this Friday at 3pm in the Council Chamber as we cheer on the Pioneers and have a great week!

Best,

Celestino Limas

Dean of Students & Chief Diversity Officer