Two tournaments, 14 games, 560 minutes of basketball, all culminating in two conference champions. St. Charles County basketball fans are in for a treat this weekend as the Great Lakes Valley Conference is hosting both its Men’s and Women’s conference tournaments at the Family Arena. The GLVC is a member of the NCAA Division II and its members hold five spots in their respective Top 25 rankings, including the No. 2 team in each poll and the No. 8 team in each poll.
Both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments started with a first round held last Sunday (March 1) at the respective higher seeds’ campuses. Teams were then reseeded. The tournaments pick up with the quarterfinals matchups The men play Thursday, and the women play Friday. Both tournaments will play semifinals games Saturday, and the finals will be held Sunday afternoon.
Tickets are $38 for an all-tournament pass (7 sessions in total), or $18 per session for Adults and $11 for Students with a valid ID. Children under 6-years-old and under are free. Parking at the Family Arena will be $5 per session.
Men’s Basketball
The GLVC men’s tournament saw just one upset in the first round. The eleven seed, Maryville, upset sixth-seeded Southern Indiana 72-71 in overtime. Their reward for their upset win is facing the top-seeded and No. 2 team in the country, Bellarmine. Bellarmine tied for the GLVC East title and is currently on a 13-game winning streak.The rest of the first round was largely uneventful with the next closest game being UMSL’s 12-point win over William Jewell.
Thursday- Quarterfinals
#1 Bellarmine vs. #8 Maryville 12 p.m.
#4 Indianapolis vs. #5 Lewis 2:30 p.m.
#2 Drury vs. #7 UMSL 6 p.m.
#3 UW-Parkside vs. #6 Truman State 8:30 p.m.
Saturday- Semifinals
Bellarmine/Maryville vs. Indy/Lewis 12 p.m.
Drury/UMSL vs. Parkside/Truman 2:30 p.m.
Sunday- Finals
GLVC Men’s Tournament Championship 1 p.m.
Women’s Basketball
The first round of the women’s tournament was slightly more unpredictable than the men’s. Eleventh-seeded Indianapolis and tenth-seeded Maryville upset their first round opponents to advance. UMSL and Quincy also lived to fight another weekend with wins by 5 points and 3 points respectively. Interestingly, Drury is the top-seeded team in the bracket with a 17-1 regular season conference record and a head-to-head tiebreaker over Lewis, who also finished 17-1 in the GLVC, but Lewis is ranked No. 2 team in the country and Drury is eighth.
Friday- Quarterfinals
#4 UW-Parkside vs. #5 Quincy 12 p.m.
#1 Drury vs. #8 Indianapolis 2:30 p.m.
#2 Lewis vs. #7 Maryville 6 p.m.
#3 Southern Indiana vs. UMSL 8:30 p.m.
Saturday- Semifinals
Parkside/Quincy vs. Drury/Indy 6 p.m.
Lewis/Maryville vs. So. Indy/ UMSL 8:30 p.m.
Sunday- Finals
GLVC Women’s Tournament Championship 3:30 p.m.
