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GU women Stanford bound

Gonzaga women's basketball players, from left, Jami Bjorklund, Michelle Elliott, Sasha Polishchuck and Vivian Frieson jump to their feet on Monday as the NCAA women's selection special on ESPN announces they will play Middle Tennessee State at Stanford in the tournament's first round. (Jed Conklin / The Spokesman-Review)
By Dave Trimmer davetrimmer@yahoo.com
Gonzaga women's basketball players, from left, Jami Bjorklund, Michelle Elliott, Sasha Polishchuck and Vivian Frieson jump to their feet on Monday as the NCAA women's selection special on ESPN announces they will play Middle Tennessee State at Stanford in the tournament's first round. (Jed Conklin / The Spokesman-Review)

Good fortune arrived Sunday, when the Gonzaga men’s basketball team was sent to Sacramento, and it stayed until Monday night, when the Bulldog women got a ticket to Stanford University.

The GU squad will make its first-ever appearance in the women’s tournament on Saturday against Middle Tennessee State in Palo Alto, Calif.

“It’s great for our fans,” GU coach Kelly Graves said. “Maybe there will be a residual crowd factor.”

The two tournament sites are about two hours apart.

The 12th-seeded Bulldogs (24-9) take on fifth-seeded and 17th-ranked Middle Tennessee (29-3), which is riding a 26-game winning streak. The Blue Raiders from Murfreesboro, Tenn., are making their fourth-straight tournament appearance and 11th overall. Game time is 5 p.m. on ESPN2.

If the men beat Indiana on Thursday, they’ll play a second-round game Saturday. GU and Middle Tennessee State are in the Dayton Regional with top-seed Tennessee and defending champion Maryland seeded No. 2. The winner of Saturday’s game will play Monday against the winner of Ohio State-Marist. Ohio State (28-3), is seeded fourth and ranked eighth in the country.

“I’m excited, especially playing on the West Coast,” GU senior Stephanie Hawk said. “We don’t know much about them. Our coaches will do a good job of preparing us.”