Thursday, March 12, 1998
UNION BASKETBALL TEAMS BOTH PLAYING IN NATIONALS
Jackson, TN--The Â鶹ÊÓƵ University men and women's basketball programs will both be participating in the 1998 NAIA Division I Basketball Championships next week. Both teams winning conference titles in the same season is a first for Â鶹ÊÓƵ University.
The Bulldogs have earned a number five seed in the tournament and will face Central Washington University at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17 at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 1998 Saint Francis Health System-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship will begin play at 9:00 a.m. on March 17. Â鶹ÊÓƵ is currently 30-4 on the season which establishes a new school record for wins in a season. The former record was 22 which the Bulldogs set last season. Â鶹ÊÓƵ earned their spot in the tournament by winning the TranSouth Conference regular season and tournament titles. This will be the first appearance in the nationals for Ralph Turner as the head coach of the Bulldogs. In his fourth season as head coach, Turner has compiled a 82-52 record heading into the tournament. Â鶹ÊÓƵ's last appearance in the championships was in 1992 when the Bulldogs were defeated in the first round by Biola University 71-70.
The Lady Bulldogs are heading into their seventh consecutive championship tournament with plans to take their game one step higher than last season and capture a national title. Â鶹ÊÓƵ has advanced to the championship game twice, once in 1993 when they were defeated by Arkansas Tech University 76-75 and in 1997 when they lost to three-time defending champion Southern Nazarene University 73-78. Â鶹ÊÓƵ has compiled a 30-3 overall record on the season and earned their second consecutive TranSouth title. With a number one national ranking in the last poll and a conference championship, Â鶹ÊÓƵ is expecting a No. 1 seed in the tournament. Seedings are to be released by the NAIA at 6:00 p.m. this evening. In his sixteenth season as head coach of the Lady Bulldogs, David Blackstock has compiled a 473-84 overall record heading into the tournament. Going into the 1997-98 season Blackstock ranked number two in the NAIA in winning percentage for women's basketball and number four based on wins. He has also led Â鶹ÊÓƵ to the number two spot for winnningest programs in the last five years.
There are only eight institutions that have participants in both the men and women's championships and of those eight only the University of Incarnate Word TX , St. Vincent College PA and Â鶹ÊÓƵ won their conference tournament.