FOREST, Va. --- The ODAC women's basketball season continues this week with the annual conference postseason tournament. This year's field features 10 tournament teams. Bridgewater College enters as the tournament's top seed after going 4-0 thru its conference schedule. The University of Lynchburg, Washington and Lee University, and Roanoke College round out the top-four seeds, respectively.
Formats for the 2021 ODAC basketball tournaments were determined by alternative methods from previous seasons due to a number of circumstances including conference scheduling, unequal number of games played, and no neutral site venue. Below is how the tournament seeds were determined as well as the game format for the tournament. Please note that schedule adjustments can and will be made when necessary based on hosting capabilities at the designated school and any alterations needed due to campus COVID-19 protocols. As such, all dates should be considered subject to change.
Prior to the 2021 spring season, ODAC leadership had determined that the original four-team tournament would be determined by position in the final standings. To be eligible for that tournament, a team would have to play 50-percent of the maximum amount of conference games played. In the current tournament format featuring all active teams beginning this week, that original process was used to determine the top four seeds.
Ferrum College played the most league games this season, having featured in nine contests. To be eligible for a top-four seed, a team would have needed to play four ODAC games (round down from 4.5 games). Seeds 5-10 in the tournament field were drawn at-large among the remaining active programs.
All games in the tournament will be played on member campuses. The higher seed in each matchup will serve as the host team.
RELATED: ODAC Women's Basketball Bracket
Tournament play begins on Thursday, March 4, with two first round contests at the seventh and eighth seeds. The winners of those two games join the top-six seeds in the quarterfinals. Those four games are set for Saturday, March 6, at seeds 1-4. The semifinals will be on Tuesday, March 9. The championship games are currently slated for Thursday, March 11, with the potential to slide one or both of those games to Saturday, March 13. All game times are to-be-determined based on host team variables.
Listed below is the full schedule for the 2021 ODAC Women's Basketball Tournament. For more information, visit any of the participating schools' websites, or go to the ODAC tournament website. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.
2021 ODAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS AND SCHEDULE - LIVE BRACKET
First Round | Thursday, March 4 | at #7-8 Seeds
Game 1: #9 Ferrum at #8 Randolph | TBD
Game 2: #10 Eastern Mennonite at #7 Emory & Henry | TBD
Quarterfinals | Saturday, March 6 | at #1-4 Seeds
Game 3: Winner Game 1 at #1 Bridgewater | TBD
Game 4: #5 Shenandoah at #4 Roanoke | TBD*
Game 5: Winner Game 2 at #2 Lynchburg | TBD
Game 6: #6 Virginia Wesleyan at #3 Washington and Lee | TBD*
Semifinals | Tuesday, March 9 | at Higher Seeds
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 | TBD
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 | TBD
Championship | Thursday, March 11 | at Highest Remaining Seed
Game 9: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 | TBD
* The SU at RC and VWU at WLU quarterfinals can be played as early as Thursday, March 6, given that those participants are not contingent upon the result of a first round game. The default date for these two games remains Saturday, March 6, if the competing teams do not agree upon an earlier alternative date.