INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA published its first round of regional rankings Wednesday afternoon and the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles are in seventh place in the Southeast Region.

The top eight teams in the region make the NCAA Tournament with three automatic bids going to the winners of the conference tournaments from the South Atlantic Conference, Conference Carolinas and the Peachbelt Conference.

"The regional rankings and making the NCAA Tournament is something I try to educate our players on," head coach Mike Mincey said. "Your conference record and regional record are totally different things. Wins against people like Lander and [USC] Aiken, King that those are good wins. We know that we have been through a rough patch. Our overall body of working is still shining through to the regional committee."

Carson-Newman holds a win over fourth-ranked and 19-4 Lander, a 66-57 win at Holt Fieldhouse on November 16. The Lady Eagles have a 61-48 win over King (Tenn.) on December 15 as the Tornado are ranked eighth. In ninth is Newberry where the Lady Eagles have a 53-50 road win over the Wolves and close the regular season on February 28 against Newberry. Catawba is 10^th as Carson-Newman has split the season series with the Indians.

Limestone, Columbus State and SAC team Anderson (S.C.) are the first three teams in the rankings. After Lander at No. 4, North Georgia and Wingate reside just above Carson-Newman.

The Lady Eagles finish their road schedule on Saturday with a journey to take on the Queens (N.C.) Royals at 2 p.m. The game will be available on the Eagle Sports Network by tuning into 106.3 WPFT-FM or by visiting cneagles.com/live beginning at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".

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