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Women's Basketball: CIS championship goes Regionals
OTTAWA (CIS) – The CIS women’s basketball season
will feature a new-look playoff format in 2010-11 as it will
culminate with an expanded national championship tournament.
After battling within the CIS’ four regional associations
during the four-month campaign, some of the top teams in the
country will have to survive an extra round of sudden-death action
in order to make their way to the University of Windsor, which will
host the traditional CIS Final 8 from March 18-20.
While the four conference champions will automatically join host
Windsor at the Final 8, the three remaining berths will now be
allocated to the winners of the inaugural CIS regional tournaments
to be held on the previous weekend (March 11-12).
The Canada West and OUA finalists will host a regional tourney
annually while a third “Regional” will alternate
between the Atlantic and Quebec conferences. The AUS silver
medallists are slated to host the event twice every three seasons,
beginning next spring.
Each Regional will feature four teams with semifinals on the Friday
and the final on Saturday. For the first year of the new format,
participating teams will be divided as follows: the Canada West
finalists will host the silver medallists from Quebec, in addition
to the fourth-place finishers from Ontario and the recipients of a
wildcard berth (see table below for semifinal matchups).
The OUA finalists will host the third-place finishers from Canada
West and the Maritimes, along with the Canada West fifth-place
team.
Finally, the AUS finalists will host the OUA third-place squad as
well as the Canada West fourth-place and the OUA fifth-place
finishers.
The selection committee for the at-large berth will look at many
criteria such as regular season record, playoff performance,
results versus conference champions, results in exhibition play,
wins versus teams with various winning percentages (.800, .650,
.500), RPI score, etc.
“These are very exciting times for CIS women’s
basketball,” says CIS CEO, Marg McGregor. “We truly
believe such an initiative will do wonders for the promotion of all
women’s sports within CIS.”
As they get set to host the CIS Final 8 for the first time in
program history, the Windsor Lancers also hope to put an end to the
19-year stranglehold on the Bronze Baby trophy by teams currently
competing in Canada West (including former GPAC schools). The
Lancers came oh-so-close last spring in Hamilton when they reached
their first national final before dropping a 77-56 decision to
Simon Fraser.
Saskatchewan claimed CIS bronze last season. Regina, Cape Breton
and Laval finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, with
Ottawa and McMaster tying for seventh place.
The last team from outside Western Canada to hoist the Bronze Baby
was Laurentian, which captured back-to-back banners in 1990 and
1991.
The CIS Final 8 moves to Calgary in 2012 and Regina in 2013.
The Road to the 2011 Bronze Baby Trophy
October 22
Start of CWUAA regular season
October 30
Start of OUA regular season
November 4
Start of AUS regular season
November 11
Start of QSSF regular season
February 23 – March 5
OUA playoffs
February 25 – March 5
CWUAA playoffs
March 2-5
QSSF playoffs
March 4-6
AUS playoffs
March 11-12
CIS West Regional (semifinal matchups): CWUAA 2 (host) vs. At-Large
Berth / QSSF 2 vs. OUA 4
CIS Central Regional (semifinal matchups): OUA 2 (host) vs. CWUAA 5
/ CWUAA 3 vs. AUS 3
CIS East Regional (semifinal matchups): AUS 2 (host) vs. OUA 5 /
OUA 3 vs. CWUAA 4
March 18-20
CIS Final 8 at University of Windsor
-CIS-