The UNI and Iowa State women's basketball teams both received at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament when the pairings were released during the selection show on ESPN early Monday evening (March 13, 2017).

The Panthers (24-8) earned a No. 10 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional and will open the tournament against No. 7 seed DePaul (26-7) in Starkville, Miss., at 11 a.m. CT Friday on ESPN2. The Cyclones (18-12) are seeded ninth in the Bridgeport, Conn., Regional and face No. 8 seed Syracuse (21-10) in Storrs, Conn., at 12:30 p.m. CT Saturday, also on ESPN2.

The winner of the Iowa State-DePaul game will likely play No. 1 overall seed Connecticut in the second round on Monday. The four-time defending champion Huskies have a 107-game winning streak entering March Madness. Their first-round game is against Albany, the No. 16 seed.

Iowa State is making its 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, all under head coach Bill Fennelly. The Cyclones are one of just 13 teams nationally to earn a berth 10 of the last 11 years. 

The post-season appearance for UNI is the program's seventh in the last eight years. The Panthers have played the DePaul Demons three times (1983, 1985, 2001) in program history, with the 2001 game taking place in the WNIT.

UNI received its at-large bid after a 74-69 overtime loss to 20th-ranked Drake in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Sunday. The Bulldogs (28-4) earned the league's automatic NCAA bid by winning the title and is seeded 10th in the Lexington, Ky., Regional. They'll take the nation's second-longest winning streak -- 22-games -- into a first-round meeting against No. 7 seed Kansas State (22-10) in Manhattan, Kan., on Saturday.

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