MELBOURNE, Fla. - [PDF Bracket | WBB Tournament Page] - The opening round of the Sunshine State Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by S3 Design will tip-off on Tuesday, March, with top-seed University of Tampa welcoming Embry-Riddle University to the Martinez Center for the quarterfinals. All games throughout the tournament will be hosted on campus sites and broadcast on the SSC Digital Network by member institutions.

The University of Tampa earns the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament following a 17-3 record in SSC play. It stands as the seventh regular-season title for the Spartans, second consecutive. Florida Southern College (No. 2), Eckerd College (No. 3), and Saint Leo University (No. 4) will also host a quarterfinal game in the 2022 championship. Barry University (No. 5), Nova Southeastern University (No. 6), Lynn University (No. 7), and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (No. 8) round out this year's tournament field.

UT swept the season series with a 65-50 win in Daytona Beach (Dec. 8) and a 63-41 victory in Tampa (Feb. 5). The Spartans own a 9-4 lead in the all-time series, and have taken six straight meetings over the Eagles.

Tournament History

Tampa: 40-32 record - 6x champions - 5x runner up
ERAU: 2-3 record - 1x runner up
Tournament Series: 1-0 in favor of Tampa
Last Meeting: #1 UT 76, #8 ERAU 36 in the 2020 quarterfinals.

NOTES: UT is the defending SSC Tournament Champion, winning the 2021-22 title. Tampa is 0-2 in title games as the #1 seed (2014 & 2020). The 2021 seeds were drawn at random. A five-seed in 2019 and eight-seed in 2020, ERAU also did not advance past the quarterfinals. The Eagles did make the championship final in 2018 as a #3 seed in their first-ever SSC tournament. 

Players to Watch

Tampa: Kayla Bonilla (Sr., G, Columbus, Ga.) led all scorers in both games between the two programs this season. Melijah Sullivan (Jr., G, Bartow, Fla.) and Dori Nagy (Sr., F, Pecs, Hungary) are the last two SSC Players of the Year in WBB, winning in 2020-21 and 2019-20, respectively. 

ERAU: Nikki Tucker (Sr., F/G, Marshall, Mich.) is a two-time All-SSC Second Team rank ninth in points per game and fourth rebounds per game in the SSC. She is only one of two SSC athletes averaging 12 points and seven rebounds per game (Maya Price, Eckerd).

Tickets

General admission ticket prices for all Tampa regular season athletic events are $10. Youth (ages 12 and under) are admitted for $5. UT students and faculty/staff are admitted free with a valid Spartan ID.