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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The 2012 Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) women's basketball tournament kicks off tonight as eight teams go to battle in hopes of gaining an automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament in Sioux City, Iowa from March 7-13.  Davenport hosts Indiana Tech at 7:30pm and is one of four games on the schedule tonight.

Davenport and Indiana Tech kick off the WHAC Tournament at the DU Student Center tonight at 7:30pm as the page has been turned to the post-season for six other schools including No. 2 seed Concordia, No. 3 seed Northwestern Ohio, No. 4 seed Siena Heights, No. 5 seed Cornerstone, No. 6 seed Madonna and No. 8 seed Aquinas.

Davenport vs. Indiana Tech
The Lady Panthers have won both meetings this year against the Warriors as they posted an 81-64 win in Fort Wayne in December and followed that with a 74-57 win in Grand Rapids the second time around.  All-time, Davenport is 17-1 against the Warriors and DU has won 16 consecutive in the series.

History of the Tournament
Over the last 6 years that Davenport has been eligible for the WHAC Tournament, the conference has seen three different schools claim the title with Davenport having three of those, Cornerstone a pair and Aquinas one.  Davenport has won the last two in convincing fashion and the Lady Panthers also claimed the title in 2005-06, their first year as a full member of the conference.

First Round Matchups
Davenport, the top seed for the sixth consecutive season, will host the eighth seed Indiana Tech while Concordia, who shared this year's regular season championship with DU, will host Aquinas College.  The middle seeded games will be hosted by Siena Heights (vs. Cornerstone) and Northwestern Ohio (vs. Madonna).

NAIA National Tournament Berth
The winner of this year's tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA DII National Tournament from March 7-13 in Sioux City, Iowa.  If Davenport were to win the tournament, the runner-up would then receive the conferences second auto bid.  Sioux City will be hosting the tournament for the 15^th consecutive year.

Davenport's Record in the Tourney
Davenport was eligible to compete in the tournament during the 2005-06 season and over the past six years, the Lady Panthers have posted a tournament overall record of 13-3.  They have made the semifinals in every year and have made the championship game in four of those six seasons.

Post-Season Honors
Post-season honors were handed out today as Concordia's Kortni Ellsworth earned the player of the year award as voted on by league coaches.  Joining her on the first team were Davenport's Karlee Despres, Cornerstone's Melissa Veltlkamp, Northwestern Ohio's Amanda Francis and Concordia's Hannah Sabol. Andrea Gorski was voted as the coach of the year as she helped Concordia to their first ever WHAC Regular season title.

Possible Semifinal Round Matchup
The winner of tonight's Davenport/Indiana Tech game will advance to Saturday's semifinals where they will meet the winner of the Siena Heights/Cornerstone matchup at the highest remaining seed.  Davenport is 4-0 against those two teams this season as well.

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