Bowdoin College will host Western New England in the first round of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament on Friday night.

The bracket for the tournament was released on Monday afternoon, with both Bowdoin and Bates hosting first- and second-round games. Maine Maritime Academy and St. Joseph’s also earned berths into the tournament.

The Polar Bears (25-2) earned an automatic bid by beating Bates on Sunday in the New England Small College Athletic Conference championship game. Bates (22-5) earned an at-large bid and will face Brooklyn College in the first round.

Bowdoin is playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2020. The conference title was the 10th in program history for the Polar Bears.

St. Joseph’s is making its second straight trip to the NCAA tournament after defending its Great Northeast Athletic Conference title by beating the University of St. Joseph’s on Saturday. The Monks will face Rhode Island College on Friday in Providence, Rhode Island.

Maine Maritime, which beat Husson in the North Atlantic Conference championship game, will face Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

AP POLL: Texas rose to its highest ranking in more than a year in The Associated Press Top 25 poll after another week of shakeups amongst the top teams.

The Longhorns moved up two spots to No. 3 after four of the top seven teams lost at least one game last week. Texas hadn’t been this high in the Top 25 since the school was also third on Nov. 14, 2022. Texas has won seven straight games and closes out the regular season this week against No. 20 Oklahoma and BYU. The Longhorns are a game behind the Sooners for first place in the Big 12.

South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 team, receiving all 35 votes from the national media panel, after routing Alabama and Kentucky. The Gamecocks clinched their third consecutive outright Southeastern Conference regular-season championship and eighth in 11 years. They visit Arkansas on Thursday night before hosting Tennessee in the regular-season finale on Sunday.

Ohio State was second in the poll. The Buckeyes clinched a share of the Big Ten title with their 14th consecutive win on Sunday.

Indiana, featuring Gorham’s Mackenzie Holmes, remains at No. 14, while Notre Dame, with Cumberland native Anna DeWolfe, moved up two spots to No. 17.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

DIV. III TOURNAMENT: Husson earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament by winning the North Atlantic Conference tournament and will face NYU in the first round on Friday evening in New York.

AP POLL: Now it is Houston’s turn at the top of The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The Cougars moved to No. 1 for the first time this season in the latest poll, climbing one spot to end the six-week stay of reigning national champion Connecticut. Houston (24-3) became the fifth team to hold the top spot this season.

Purdue rose one spot to No. 2, while the Huskies’ loss to Creighton dropped them to third in a poll that included South Florida cracking the rankings for the first time in program history.

Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars spent seven weeks at No. 1 last year, their first stint at the top since the “Phi Slama Jama” days during the 1982-83 season with a team featuring future NBA greats like Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Now they’re back, playing in a new conference home (the Big 12) with the same defense-first formula that has Houston leading the country in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency (87.1 points allowed per 100 possessions).

Tennessee, with South Portland native JP Estrella, moved up a spot to No. 4, its highest ranking this season.

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