ISU earns four seed in tourney, will play Lehigh in first round

AMES (ISU) — The Iowa State women’s basketball team will face Lehigh at 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum in the NCAA Championship first round.

The Cyclones were chosen as a No. 4 seed in the Dayton Regional, while Lehigh is a No. 13 seed. The No. 5 seed Virginia will face the No. 12 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay in the first game of the night at 6 p.m. Sunday at Hilton.

“They (Lehigh) look on paper a lot like us,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “They don’t score a lot, are a good defensive team, shoot the three a lot, and we’re obviously scrambling like crazy to find out. You win 29 games, and you are doing something right. We’ll spend a long night tonight trying to get information and luckily we don’t play until Sunday. The challenge of playing someone new is always fun. We’ll do the best we can to get ready.”

The winners of the NCAA first-round games in Ames will face off at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum. The first-round games at Hilton will be televised by ESPN2.

The games will be televised in a whiparound coverage across the nation with ESPN2 showing the best available action at any given point in time.

The Iowa State game should be shown in its entirety in the state of Iowa, but fans should check ESPN.com for coverage details later this week.

Iowa State is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, and its 11th in school history.

The Cyclones are playing host to the NCAA first and second rounds for the seventh time overall, and the sixth time at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State also hosted the 2002 NCAA Women’s Championship Midwest Regional at Hilton, as well as the 2008 first and second rounds at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Tickets are available for purchase at cyclones.com or ticketmaster.com. They may also be purchased by phone at 1-888-478-2925 or in person at the Iowa State Athletics Ticket Office during regular office hours of 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

All-session tickets are $27 for adults and $22 for youth.