Dover, Del. (Mar. 5, 2010) --- Hours after falling to Maryland-Eastern Shore in the regular season finale, the Delaware State women's basketball team learned that it will face the Hawks in the opening round of the 2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The 10th seeded Lady Hornets will take on UMES, the No. 7 seed, in a first round game on Tuesday, March 9 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The 11:00 a.m. contest is the first of five games on the tournament's opening day.
Maryland-Eastern swept the two meetings with Delaware State this regular season, winning 71-64 on Dec. 5, 2009 in Princess Anne, Md., and 58-55 last evening at DSU's Memorial Hall.
The Hornets and Hawks have met seven times in the MEAC Tournament, with UMES holding a 4-3 lead. Delaware State won the last tournament contest between the teams, 66-53, in a 2006 semifinal match-up. UMES won the two previous tournament meetings in 1999 and 2000.
The teams also met in the 1984, '87, '90 and '92 MEAC playoffs.
The winner of the Delaware State/UMES match up will take on No. 2 seed Hampton on Wednesday (Mar. 10) at 10:00 a.m.
Delaware State is 20-27 all-time in the MEAC Tournament. The Lady Hornets claimed their only tournament tile in 2007. DSU has made seven championship game appearances.
North Carolina A&T is the No. 1 women's seed for the third straight year.
The women's championship game is March 13 at 5:00 p.m. The women's finale will air via tape delay on ESPNU, March 14 at 11 a.m.
