MSUB Women In, Men Out of West Region Poll (Feb. 25, 2004)

BILLINGS, MT – Since dropping out of the NCAA West Region poll on January 28, the MSU Billings women’s team has been on the outside looking in.  Now with just eleven days left in the NCAA Division II regular season, the Lady Yellowjackets are back at No. 9 in the most recent regional poll released Wednesday.

The Yellowjackets concluded their season on February 23 with their sixth straight win.  They finished with a 16-11 overall record and will now wait for the rest of the West Region teams to wrap up their schedules on March 6.  There will be one more NCAA regular season regional poll released on March 3, and the final tournament pairings will be announced at 8:30 p.m. EST on March 7.  The top eight teams in the March 7 regional poll will qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The Yellowjacket men’s team dropped out of the regional poll for the first time this season after losing three games in Hawaii last week.  Hawaii-Hilo moved up to the No. 9 spot that the Yellowjackets had occupied for the previous two weeks.  MSU Billings is 15-10 overall with two games remaining at home against Western New Mexico on March 4 and 6. 

NCAA Women’s West Region Poll (through games of 2/22/04)
1. Seattle Pacific (24-0), 2. Cal State-Bakersfield (19-4), 3. Cal Poly Pomona (17-6), 4. Western Washington (17-6), 5. Cal State-Chico (16-7), 6. Sonoma State (14-9), 7. Grand Canyon (14-9), 8. UC-San Diego (12-11), 9. Montana State-Billings (15-11), 10. St. Martin’s (12-10).

NCAA Men’s West Region Poll (through games of 2/22/04)
1. Cal State-San Bernardino (22-1), 2. BYU-Hawaii (19-4), 3. Humboldt State (20-5), 4. Cal State-Bakersfield (18-5), 5. Alaska-Fairbanks (17-6), 6. Cal Poly Pomona (18-5), 7. Cal State-Chico (16-7), 8. Alaska-Anchorage (17-8), 9. Hawaii-Hilo (15-7), 10. Western Washington (16-8).