PITTSBURG, Kan. -- The No. 7 Winona State women's basketball team opens NCAA Tournament play with a matchup against Fort Hays State at noon Friday in Pittsburg, Kan. WSU is the No. 4 seed, while FHSU is the No. 5 seed.

Friday, March 11
Session 1
Game 1 • Noon • No. 5 Seed Fort Hays State vs. No. 4 Seed Winona State
Game 2 • 2:30 p.m. - No. 8 Seed Northern State vs. No. 1 Seed Emporia State 
Session 2
Game 3 • 6 p.m. - No. 7 Seed Sioux Falls vs. No. 2 Seed Pittsburg State
Game 4 • 8:30 p.m. - No. 6 Seed Arkansas Tech vs. No. 3 Seed Missouri Western

Saturday, March 12
Game 5 • 5 p.m. - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 
Game 6 • 7:30 p.m. - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

Monday, March 14
Game 7 • 7 p.m. - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6

WARRIORS IN THE TOURNEY: WSU is making its third appearance in the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament, preceeded by appearances in 2009 and 2011. Winona State is 1-2 in tournament play, beating Colorado State-Pueblo on March 13, 2009 with a 78-55 win before falling to Fort Lewis 75-69 in overtime in a regional played in Mankato, Minn. In WSU's second trip to the big dance, the Warriors fell in the opening round to Metro State by a 70-56 score on March 11, 2011, in Durango, Colo.

LAST TIME OUT: The Warriors advanced to the semifinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament with wins over Bemidji State (74-64) and Concordia-St. Paul (68-64). In a wild game, the Warriors fell to Augustana in an 85-84 overtime loss as the Vikings hit a game-winning shot with three seconds left and Alexis Foley's potential game-winning shot rattled in and out. Foley led WSU with 24 points.

ALL-TOURNAMENT FOLEY: Senior guard Alexis Foley is playing her best ball on the biggest stage. In three NSIC Tournament games, the senior averaged 20.3 points per game, shot 50 percent from the field and dished out 21 assists - including a career-high 12 in the semifinal loss to the Vikings.

AWARDS FOR THE WARRIORS: The Warriors earned a host of postseason accolades from the NSIC. Alexis Foley and Connor Nagle each landed on the All-NSIC first team - the first time since 2008-09 WSU has had multiple first-team honorees - while Kayla Timmerman picked up All-NSIC second team and all-defensive team honors.

COACH OF THE YEAR: WSU head coach Scott Ballard was rewarded after making the NSIC preseason choice to win the league a reality. Ballard was named NSIC Coach of the Year, his first honor at WSU and the program's first coach of the year award since 1997-98.

REGULAR SEASON RECAP: The Warriors assembled the most storied regular season in program history, setting a school record with 27 overall wins and 20 NSIC victories.

RECORD TIMES TWO: The Warriors, who set a program record with 13 consecutive wins to open the season, accomplished the feat for a second time after their NSIC quarterfinal win over Concordia. WSU's previous program record for longest winning streak was 11, lasting from Jan. 23-Mar. 4, 2009.

UNFAMILIAR FOES: Friday will mark the first-ever matchup between the Warriors and Fort Hays State. WSU would also potentially be meeting Emporia State, Pittsburg State or Arkansas Tech for the first time. WSU and Missouri Western met once in 2004, a 55-42 Griffon win. The story is different however, for the NSIC teams in the tournament. WSU has a 6-4 series lead over Sioux Falls and Northern State holds a 48-10 edge over the Warriors.

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN: A win over Fort Hays would send the Warriors the semifinals of the NCAA Central Region Tournament against the winner of top-seed Emporia State and eight-seed Northern State on Saturday at 5 p.m. with the winner then playing in the championship game at 7 p.m. Monday.

FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP: The Warriors officially celebrated their first NSIC regular season in program history with their win over Concordia-St. Paul in the regular season finale. The Warriors have one NSIC Tournament title to their name as well, earning the 2011 crown with a 63-61 victory over Concordia-St. Paul on the Golden Bears' home floor.

THREE-TIME NAGLE: Connor Nagle is making the most of her final stretches of her Warrior career, as she earned the last three NSIC Player of the Week awards of the season. Nagle had made at least four 3-pointers in the past 7 games and 42 during that span (54.5 percent). She leads the NSIC in FG percentage at 43.9%

NAGLE BREAKS A RECORD: In WSU's last game against Augustana, Connor Nagle broke WSU's single-season 3-point record, surpassing Becca Friestleben's record of 103 in the 2012-13 season. Nagle has now hit 105 on the season and has 209 in her career, the fourth-most in WSU history.

LEADING IN FREE THROWS: No team in Division II is a better free throw shooting team than the Warriors. WSU leads the nation at 80.7 percent, the only squad to make at least 80 percent. Alexis Foley leads the NSIC at the charity stripe, knocking down 90 percent of her free throws (108-of-120).

LIGHTS-OUT SHOOTING: The Warriors' win over Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 30 at the time marked the most efficient shooting performance of any team in DIvision II this season. WSU shot a sweltering 67.8 percent (40-of-59) from the field, more than two percentage points better than Western Washington's 65.7 percent performance this season. Since then, Missouri Western took the top spot with a 69.4 percent effort.

OFFENSE AND DEFENSE: The Warriors are statistically superior on both offense and defense. WSU leads the NSIC in both field goal percentage (45.1 percent) and field goal percentage defense (34.8 percent) while ranking 2nd in scoring offense (74.1 percent) and first in scoring defense (56.1, ahead of Sioux Falls' 59.8 and Northern State's 60.0).

200 FOR BALLARD: WSU head coach Scott Ballard won his 200th game at WSU earlier this season at Bemidji State. The winningest coach in program history, Ballard is in his 12th season at WSU with a record of 209-141. In his 26-year NCAA coaching career, he holds a record of 478-275.

TIMMERMAN'S BLOCK PARTY: Kayla Timmerman has had a record-setting season when it comes to blocks. She's set both single-season (91) and game (11) records and her 91 blocks ranks third in the nation. Her 11 blocks against Concordia-St. Paul is also the most in Division II this season.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Alexis Foley notched WSU's first NSIC South Division Player of the Week accolade on  Feb. 1 after leading the Warriors to wins over BSU and UMC. Foley averaged 19.5 points and 7.5 assists with a fantastic 15-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. She added her first career double-double against UMC with 17 points and a career-high 11 assists. Foley shot 65 percent in the games. The Warriors have four player of the week awardees this season.

NATIONAL RANKING: The Warriors are ranked No. 7 in the March 8 edition of the NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll, which is the highest ranking in program history. Prior to this season, the Warriors had never been ranked in the top 25. WSU entered the poll for the first time sporting a No. 16 ranking in the WBCA Preseason Poll.

LIMITING STAR PLAYERS: The Warriors have allowed just five opposing players to reach 20 points this season, while the Warriors have accomplished the feat on 19 occasions. WSU is 3-2 when an opponent scores 20, and 16-3 when the Warriors accomplish the feat.