CLINTON, Miss. – LSU Eunice women's basketball makes its third consecutive trip to the Region 23 Tournament as the Bengals open tournament play on Wednesday against Southwest Mississippi.  The three-day, single elimination tournament will once again be on the campus of Mississippi College from March 4-6.
 
LSU Eunice is the automatic five-seed in the eight-team tournament field as the Louisiana Community Athletic Conference (LCCAC) regular season champion.
 
The Bengals captured their third consecutive LCCAC crown by going undefeated in conference play for also the third straight season.  LSUE has won 28 straight LCCAC games dating back to the 2016-17 season.  First year head coach Jaime Gonzalez has also led his team to an 11-game win streak entering postseason play.
 
Ava Jones (Carencro, LA, Carencro HS) leads the Bengals with 17.9 points per game, one of four LSUE players averaging 10-plus points a night.  LSUE features a stingy defense, currently ranked 13th nationally in steals (14.0 per game) and 37th in blocks (4.1 per game).
 
Southwest Mississippi comes off a MACJC semifinal appearance and enters the Region 23 tournament with a 17-8 record.  First-team All-MACJC guard Jolie Williams leads the Bears with 15 points per game and helped SMCC to a second place finish in the south division.
 
The two sides have met four times, including a home-and-home sweep by LSU Eunice a year ago.  The Bengals dropped their two prior meetings with Southwest, tying the series record 2-2.
 
The winner of Wednesday's opening round will advance to the semifinal round and face the winner of Jones College and Copiah-Lincoln.  The Bengals defeated Copiah-Lincoln earlier this season. 
 
East Mississippi is the overall number one seed in the tournament field after capturing last week's MACJC state tournament.  The champion of the Region 23 tournament receives an automatic berth as the Gulf District representative in the NJCAA National Tournament.


NJCAA DIVISION I REGION XXIII
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE | A.E. WOOD COLISEUM
MARCH 4-6, 2020
 
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4
GAME 1:                3. ITAWAMBA CC (18-6) VS. 6. MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST CC (16-7)         1:00PM
GAME 2:               1. EAST MISSISSIPPI CC (24-2) VS. 8. NW MISSISSIPPI CC (15-9)               3:00PM
GAME 3:               2. JONES COLLEGE (21-4) VS. 7. COPIAH-LINCOLN CC (13-10)                    5:00PM
GAME 4:               4. SW MISSISSIPPI CC (17-8) VS. 5. LSU EUNICE (20-6)                                 7:00PM
 
THURSDAY, MARCH 5
GAME 5:               GAME 1 WINNER VS. GAME 2 WINNER                                                                     5:00PM
GAME 6:               GAME 3 WINNER VS. GAME 4 WINNER                                                                    7:00PM

FRIDAY, MARCH 6
GAME 7:               GAME 5 WINNER VS. GAME 6 WINNER                                                                    5:00PM
                WINNER RECEIVES GULF DISTRICT BERTH INTO NJCAA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT