St. Joseph Civic Arena will host the Division II Women’s Basketball Central Region Showcase
By Calvin Silvers
The community has seen downtown St. Joseph becoming a more popular spot for sporting events, as the St. Joseph Sports Commission has utilized the Civic Arena in multiple ways over the past few years.
That won’t change this winter, as another basketball event will be added to the lineup, and it’s the second annual NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Central Region Showcase. The showcase will take place Nov. 8-9. The event features eight teams competing in eight games as part of the opening weekend of the Division II basketball season.
“Once again this November, Civic Arena will be filled with elite-level tournament play in which coupled with the D2 NCCA event announced in conjunction with the MIAA the weekend prior, we’re proud to be hosting four of the last six NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball National Champions over the span of two weekends competing against teams with heavy local/regional interest,” Executive Director of the St. Joseph Sports Commission Brett Esely said in a press release. “These are can’t miss events right here in St. Joseph.”
The Central Region Showcase field is headlined by defending MIAA champion Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri State and also includes MIAA institutions Fort Hays State and Emporia State.
The MIAA won’t be the only conference represented, as the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Athletics Association will also have teams partake. These teams include defending national champion Minnesota State, who returns to Civic Arena a little under six months after they cut the nets down in the NCAA Elite Eight this past March. The Mavericks will be joined by Augustana, Sioux Falls and Minnesota State-Moorhead.
“In our continued efforts of establishing St. Joseph as a college and high school regional sports hub, the month of November is a sweet spot time on the calendar to host tournament basketball and we are fortunate to have elite level fields that our community and traveling fans can engage in right in our own backyard,” Esely said.
Northwest will face Minnesota State-Moorhead at 2:45 on Nov. 8 and Minnesota State at the same time on Nov. 9. For Missouri Western, their two games will be at 7:30, and their first contest is against Sioux Falls, with Augustana to round out the tournament.
Ticket information will be released in early fall, in which all sales will be facilitated through the Civic Arena Box Office.
