Trio of Swannanoa Valley college basketball teams keep playing after regular season

As the college basketball regular season came to a close in the Swannanoa Valley, three teams continued to play in the postseason.

Coming off the best season in program history, the Warren Wilson College women’s basketball team earned a number 4 seed in the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association Division II National Championship Tournament in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The Swannanoa college’s men’s team returned to the postseason after failing to qualify the past two seasons.

The Warren Wilson women’s team finished the season with record of 18-8, the best in the history of the college’s women’s basketball program. The Owls were scheduled to face number 5 Penn State University Brandywine in the opening round of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. on March 1.

The eight-team single elimination tournament is held over three days with the championship game scheduled for Saturday, March 3.

Like the Warren Wilson women’s team, the men’s basketball team was on the outside looking into last season’s tournament. This season, the number 7 Owls were set to take on 10th-seeded Penn State Fayette, the host of the tournament.

The opening round match-up between Warren Wilson and Penn State Fayette is scheduled of 6 p.m. on Feb. 28. The 10-team men’s Division II tournament concludes with the national championship game on March 3.

On the other side of the Valley, the Montreat College men’s basketball team concluded its best season in a decade with a loss on Feb. 25 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament in Kingsport, Tennessee.

The Cavaliers opened the tournament with a 76-58 win over Rheinhardt University on Feb. 22. It was Montreat’s 21st victory of the season.

The Cavs fell 72-70 to Union College, who would go onto to win the tournament for the fifth consecutive year.

Montreat’s 21 wins was the most for the program since 2006, when the program won 22 and an AAC title.