SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State Lady Bears are heading north for the NCAA Tournament.
Missouri State (23-9) earned a No. 11 seed in the tournament after capturing the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid, and will open their 15th NCAA appearance Saturday against sixth-seeded DePaul (26-7) in Ames, Iowa.
The game is slated for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
The other half of the bracket in Ames is third-seeded Iowa State and No. 14 New Mexico State. The winners will play Monday, and the champion of the four-team sub-regional advances to the Chicago Regional for the third and fourth rounds March 30 and April 1.
Missouri State finished second in the MVC with a 16-2 league record and won its 11th league tournament title Sunday with a 94-79 victory against top-seeded and then-No. 21 Drake.
This is the 14th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Lady Bears, who had Final Four appearances in 1992 and 2001 and a Sweet Sixteen trip in 1993. Missouri State, 14-14 all-time in the tournament, last advanced in 2016.
DePaul is No. 24 in the latest AP poll, and finished second in the Big East with at 14-4 record. The Blue Demons defeated Marquette in conference tournament title game.
Missouri State is 0-5 all-time against DePaul, with the meetings taking place between 2005-10.
Iowa State is 25-8 overall and finished second in the Big 12 with a 13-5 league mark. New Mexico State owns a 17-game winning streak, and is 26-6 after sweeping the Western Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships.