INDIANAPOLIS - The Great Midwest Athletic Conference released its women's basketball schedule with all 12 member institutions for the 2020-21 season on Friday morning.
The conference schedule is formatted as a double round-robin with each school playing 22 contests spread throughout 12 weeks in December, January, and February.
Teams were permitted to start practice on October 15 and are allowed institutional autonomy for additional scrimmages, exhibitions, or outside competition.
In the event of a completed full double round-robin for 2020-21, the Point Rating System (PRS), which was first utilized during the 2019-20 campaign, will not be applied towards the regular-season standings. The PRS will still be calculated weekly by the league office in the event games are unable to be made up from the original schedule format.
The Great Midwest season debut is officially scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3, with five contests to tip things off. The regular season will conclude on Saturday, Feb. 27, before the conference postseason field with eight teams is finalized. Contests will be subject to change, so fans should make sure to continuously check gotiffindragons.com for the latest, most up-to-date information throughout the season.
Tiffin is scheduled to open the campaign on the road at Lake Erie on Dec. 3, followed by three home games against Ohio Dominican, Ohio Valley, and Ursuline. The 2020 portion of the schedule then concludes at Walsh on Dec. 17 and back home on Dec. 19 against Malone.
Following the two-week holiday break, the Dragons will embark on a three-game road swing, starting at Cedarville on Jan. 2 before taking the southern trip to Kentucky Wesleyan and Trevecca Nazarene the following weekend.
Tiffin will host rival Findlay on Jan. 14, visit Hillsdale on Jan. 16, and return home against Lake Erie on Jan. 21. The next three games will be on the road, visiting Ohio Dominican on Jan. 23, Ursuline on Jan. 27, and Ohio Valley on Jan. 30.
February begins with three-straight home contests, facing Cedarville, Kentucky Wesleyan, and Trevecca Nazarene over the first two weekends. TU hits the road at Malone on Feb. 18 before heading back home for two more games, hosting Walsh on Feb. 20 and Hillsdale on Feb. 24.
The regular-season slate is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Findlay.
The Great Midwest Women's Basketball Championship tournament will make up the 13th week of the season. First-round quarterfinal games will fall on Tuesday, March 2, and the semifinals and final will be conducted on Friday, March 5, and Saturday, March 6. The top four seeds advancing into the playoffs will host first-round games and the semifinals and finals will be held at the top remaining seed.
The winner of the conference tournament officially receives the automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Championship with the remaining at-large regional selections determined by criteria weighed by the national committee.
The 2021 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championships are still scheduled to be conducted with the Elite Eight, Final Four, and championship game from March 23-26 in Columbus, Ohio, following competition from eight different regionals.
The start of last year's 2020 NCAA Championship Midwest Regional was halted in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Walsh enters 2020-21 as a two-time defending Great Midwest conference tournament champion.
Great Midwest Player of the Week award selections will resume with the first student-athletes being announced tentatively Monday, Dec. 7, potentially earlier. A date for the traditional Great Midwest Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour is still to be determined.