Oregon State claims top seed in Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament

SAN FRANCISCO - For the third-straight year, OREGON STATE is the top seed in the 2017 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament to be held at KeyArea in Seattle, March 2-5. STANFORD, WASHINGTON and UCLA all claim a top-four seed and a first-round bye. Tickets for the Conference’s premiere women’s event are still available at www.pac-12.com/tickets.

Single-session tickets can be purchased at pac-12.com/tickets and start at just $20 each (additional fees may apply). A limited number of reserved sideline tickets are still available. Flexible general admission tickets and special group rates are are also available. Full ticket offers and additional information about the tournament can be found at pac-12.com/tickets, or by calling 1-855-MYPAC12 during business hours. Seattle fans have helped record four of the top-five largest attendances in the tournament’s history in four years at KeyArena. Fans are urged to secure their tickets early to get the best seats.

The No. 10/8 Beavers won their third-consecutive Pac-12 regular-season crown after posting a 16-2 Conference record, outperforming the preseason expectations when OSU was picked to finish fifth in the preseason polling. No. 8/6 Stanford and No. 11/12 Washington tied for second in the league with identical 15-3 records, but the Cardinal won the tiebreaker to secure the No. 2 seed overall, while UW is the No. 3 seed. It is the Huskies’ highest seeding since being the second seed in the 2002 and 2003 tournaments, and are led by the newest NCAA scoring leader Kelsey Plum who will be making her final appearance in the Pac-12 Tournament. No. 15/15 UCLA rounds out the top-four seeds of the tournament. Meanwhile Hall of Fame coach and 1,000 career winner Tara VanDerveer will try to lead her Cardinal squad to a 12th Pac-12 Tournament crown.

The 12-team tournament tips off with eighth-seeded CALIFORNIA (6-12) with last year’s USBWA National Freshman of the Year Kristine Anigwe, facing ninth-seeded USC (5-13) in the first round. Angiwe scored 50 points earlier this season to tie then-Pac-12 single-game scoring record. Fifth-seeded and No. RV/23 ARIZONA STATE (9-9) faces 12th-seeded UTAH (5-13) in the second game of the day.

The evening session begins with seventh-seeded WASHINGTON STATE (6-12) taking on 10th-seeded COLORADO (5-13). The Cougs have suffered significant injuries in conference play, but managed to perform better than expected when they were picked to finish 10th in the preseason. Game two of the first round features sixth-seeded OREGON (8-10) and 11th-seeded ARIZONA (5-13). UO’s Sabrina Ionescu has posted four triple-doubles this season as a freshman to lead the country in the category, and first-year UA head coach Adia Barnes returns to Seattle where she was a member of last year’s NCAA Final Four Huskies squad as an assistant coach and where she played professional basketball with the WNBA's Seattle Storm.

Games tip off on Thursday and Friday at 11:30 a.m. with four games on each of the days. The semifinal games on Saturday, March 4 are slated for 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The first 10 games of the tournament will be televised on the Conference’s Pac-12 Network. The champion will be crowned during the final game on Sunday, March 5 and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

The city of Seattle and KeyArena is host to the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament for the fourth-consecutive year. KeyArena is home to two-time WNBA Champion Seattle Storm. A commuter-friendly city, fans have a convenient link between downtown Seattle and the Seattle Center with the Seattle Center Monorail.

For the latest Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket and news, and to follow the tournament throughout next week, visit pac-12.com and pac-12.com/womenstourney. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow on twitter at @pac12 and on Facebook (facebook.com/pac12conference). Fans can also follow on the Pac-12 Networks on twitter for exclusive content at @pac12networks. 

2017 PAC-12 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday-Sunday, March 2-5
KeyArena, Seattle, Wash.
Tickets: www.pac-12.com/tickets

Thursday, March 2 • Pac-12 Network
Game 1: #8 California vs. #9 USC, 11:30 a.m. PT
Game 2: #5 Arizona State vs. #12 Utah, 2 p.m. PT
Game 3: #7 Washington State vs. #10 Colorado, 6 p.m. PT
Game 4: #6 Oregon vs. #11 Arizona, 8:30 p.m. PT

Friday, March 3 • Pac-12 Network
Game 5: #1 Oregon State vs. #8/9 Winner, 11:30 a.m. PT
Game 6: #4 UCLA vs. #5/12 Winner, 2 p.m.
Game 7: #2 Stanford vs. #7/10 Winner, 6 p.m. PT
Game 8: #3 Washington vs. #6/11 Winner, 8:30 p.m. PT

Saturday, March 4 • Pac-12 Network
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6 p.m. PT
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 8:30 p.m. PT

Sunday, March 5 • ESPN2
Game 11: Championship game, 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET