EVANSVILLE, Ind.—For the fourth time this year and the third time in 13 days, University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball will take the court against Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division foe Lewis University. The two teams will meet in the opening round of the NCAA II Midwest Region Tournament Friday at 11 a.m. (CST) in Ashland, Ohio.

Tickets for the regional, which is being hosted by No. 1 Ashland University, are on sale now.

All of USI's games will be aired on WSWI 95.7 FM, while live stats, audio and video coverage can be accessed at GoUSIEagles.com.

The Screaming Eagles (26-4), who rose to No. 15 in the latest WBCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, are 2-1 against Lewis this season. USI defeated the Flyers, 76-68, in the GLVC Tournament semifinals last weekend after suffering a 72-71 setback to Lewis in the regular-season finale. The Eagles defeated Lewis, 67-56, in the GLVC-opener in December.

USI enters this weekend's regional as the No. 3 seed, while the Flyers (23-7) are the No. 6 seed.

Other first-round matchups include the No. 2 seed, Drury University, taking on the No. 7 seed, University of Findlay, Friday at 1:30 p.m.; the No. 1 seed, Ashland, against the No. 8 seed, Hillsdale College, at 4 p.m.; and the No. 4 seed, Michigan Tech University, versus the No. 5 seed, Grand Valley State University, at 6:30 p.m.

Semifinal matchups pit the winner of the USI-Lewis game against the winner of the Drury-Findlay contest Saturday at 4 p.m.; while the Ashland-Hillsdale winner takes on the Michigan Tech-Grand Valley State winner Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

The championship game is slated for Monday at 6 p.m. (CDT).

USI Women's Basketball Notes (3/6/18)
• Eagles GLVC Tournament run ends with championship loss. USI Women's Basketball's run in the GLVC Tournament ended with a 62-52 setback to top-seed and No. 3 Drury Sunday.  

• Dahlstrom, Grooms net All-Tourney honors. Senior forward Morgan Dahlstrom and senior guard/forward Kaydie Grooms were named to the GLVC All-Tournament team. Dahlstrom had a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds in the championship loss to Drury; while Grooms had 27 points and five assists in USI's 76-68 semifinal win over Lewis.

• GLVC Tournament leaders. Grooms averaged 18.0 points per game to lead the Eagles in the GLVC Tournament, while Dahlstrom chipped in 14.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest.Senior guard Randa Harshbarger contributed 7.0 points and 5.0 assists per outing.

• Eagles back in NCAA Tournament. USI earned the No. 3 seed in this week's regional and is making its 10th trip to the NCAA II Tournament and first since 2015. The Eagles, who are 8-9 (.471) all-time in the NCAA II Tournament, are making their sixth trip to the "Big Dance" under Head Coach Rick Stein. They captured regional titles in 1997 and 2001, finishing as the national runner-up in 1997.

• Familiar foe. USI and Lewis are meeting for the third time in the last 14 days and the fourth time this season when they square off against each other Friday. It marks just the second time in program history that USI has played an opponent four times in one year, with the other being Northern Kentucky in 2001-02.

• USI and Lewis in the postseason. USI and Lewis are meeting each other in the postseason for the ninth time Friday and the first time in the NCAA II Tournament.

• USI is 4-1 on neutral floors in 2017-18. The Eagles are 4-1 this year on neutral courts. USI was 2-0 at the Bellarmine Thanksgiving Classic in Louisville, Kentucky; then went 2-1 at the GLVC Tournament in Edwardsville, Illinois.

• Eagles with national tournament experience. USI will rely on its coaching staff and senior class for past experience in the NCAA II Tournament. Grooms, Dahlstrom and Harshbarger all saw playing time in USI's last NCAA II Tournament game during their freshman season. Grooms started the game and scored five points in 19 minutes of action, while Dahlstrom and Harshbarger each saw limited action. Stein has coached in all nine of USI's previous trips to the NCAA II Tournament, while Assistant Coach Randa Dallas has coached in five NCAA post-seasons as well as played in four NCAA II Tournaments.

• USI vs. NCAA II Tournament Field. USI is 3-3 against the 64-team NCAA II Tournament field this year, with all six games against the Midwest Region, and is 63-81 all-time against the field. The Eagles are 53-74 all-time against the Midwest Region field.

• USI wins second straight GLVC East Division title. The Eagles secured their second straight GLVC East Division championship with their 75-53 win over UW-Parkside in the final week of the regular season.

• Dahlstrom nets academic award. Dahlstrom was recently named Academic All-District IV by D2SIDA and is in the running for Academic All-America. She has compiled a 3.91 grade point average as an exercise science major at USI.

• Stein earns GLVC Coach of Year honors again. USI Head Coach Rick Stein has been named the Chuck Mallander GLVC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and the third time in his career. He led the Eagles to a 24-3 overall record and a 16-2 mark in GLVC play after the Eagles lost five seniors from a team that was 24-5 overall and 16-2 in GLVC play a year ago.

• Grooms, Dahlstrom lead four Eagles on All-GLVC squad. Grooms and Dahlstrom were each named first-team All-GLVC in a vote by the league's head coaches Tuesday; while Harshbarger and junior center Kacy Eschweiler were each named third team. Grooms, a second-team honoree a year ago, was one of three unanimous selections on the first team. Dahlstrom was third team last season, while Harshbarger and Eschweiler are earning their first-career honors.

• USI reaches 25-win plateau. The Eagles have reached the 25-win plateau for the second time in four years and the sixth time in program history. USI has reached the 25-win plateau four times under Head Coach Rick Stein.

• Too many turnovers. USI's 31 turnovers against Drury in the GLVC Championship marked USI's first 30-turnover game since they committed 34 in a 73-67 loss to Saint Joseph's January 31, 2004.

• Dahlstrom lighting up the nets. Dahlstrom is shooting 67.0 percent (79-118) in the last 11 games and has shot 50.0 percent or better in 14 of the previous 16 contests.

• Efficient fourth quarters. USI is shooting 58.0 percent (80-138) from the field in the fourth quarters of its last 11 games.

• Harshbarger closing in on steal record. Harshbarger needs just nine steals to match Casey Hughes (201) for first all-time at USI in career steals.

• Grooms' milestones. Grooms is the fifth player in program history to record 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds.

• Dahlstrom's milestones. Dahlstrom is the 18th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau and the sixth player to hit 1,000 career points and 700 career rebounds.

• USI in the Top 25. USI moved up two spots to No. 15 in the latest USA Today Sports/NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll. The Eagles were No. 15 in the final Division II Media Poll and are ranked No. 10 in the latest Herosports.com Division II rankings and No. 12 in the Massey Ratings.

• Perfect correlation? USI posted its third perfect home record in program history as it went 15-0 at the PAC in 2017-18. The Eagles also were 15-0 at the PAC when they advanced to the NCAA II championship game in 1996-97 and 14-0 when they earned their second trip to the NCAA II Elite Eight in 2000-01.

• Senior success. Dahlstrom, Grooms and Harshbarger have helped lead USI to an 89-29 overall record and a 54-18 mark in GLVC play in the last four years. They have played in a combined 335 games, recording 3,131 points, 1,547 rebounds, 696 assists, 141 blocks and 470 steals.

• A look at Lewis. Junior forward Jessica Kelliher averages an NCAA II-best 24.8 points per game to lead the Flyers (23-7), who are the No. 6 seed in the regional after falling to USI, 76-68, in the GLVC Tournament semifinals.

• Dahlstrom, Grooms earn GLVC weekly awards. Dahlstrom has twice been named GLVC Player of the Week this year and three times in her career; while Grooms was the most recent Eagle to earn the weekly award as she claimed her first honor February 19.

• Record book watch. Four players are in currently in USI's record books:
–Morgan Dahlstrom is sixth in games played (114) and rebounds (741), 10th in blocks (65), and 15th in scoring (1,055);
–Kacy Eschweiler is 15th in blocks (55);
–Kaydie Grooms is second in games played (118); fourth in free throws made (362); fifth in scoring (1,551), three-point field goals attempted (373) and field goals made (524); sixth in three-point field goals made (141), free throws attempted (450) and steals (184); tied for seventh in blocks (69); 10th in assists (237); and 13th in rebounds (529);
–Randa Harshbarger is second in assists (373), third in steals (192) and 47th in scoring (525).

• Magic Mark: 75 points. The Eagles are 401-75 (.842) all-time when scoring at least 75 points. USI is 274-26 (.913) since 1996-97 when reaching the 75-point plateau.