HUNTINGDON, Pa. –The Juniata College women's basketball team will face Hope College (27-0) in the First round of the 2008 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship. 

The Eagles (18-9) will face the Flying Dutch on Friday, March 7, at 5:00 p.m. at the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. The winner of the Juniata-Hope game will advance to a second round match against the winner of the other first round game in Berea between Baldwin-Wallace (26-2) and D'Youville College (22-5), which tips-off at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night. Saturday's second round game will begin at 7:00 p.m. 

Juniata gained entry into the NCAA Tournament through a "Pool B" bid to the NCAA Tournament, according to selections unveiled Sunday night on the NCAA's website. Hope College received an automatic qualifier into the tournament as champion of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), after defeating Albion College, 70-59, in the MIAA tournament championship game.

This will be Juniata's second appearance in the NCAA tournament. Juniata's previous trip to the NCAAs was in 1986, when the Eagles dropped a 70-53 decision to the University of Scranton in a first round game, then defeated Moravian College 66-50 in a Regional Third Place contest.

Pool B berths are reserved for independent institutions, or institutions from conferences that do not have an automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament such as the Landmark Conference. The Landmark will not be eligible for an automatic qualifier until 2010. A total of three Pool B bids were awarded; the other two Pool B bids were awarded to Chapman University (Calif.) and Landmark Conference-rival University of Scranton. Scranton will face Medaille College in a first round game in Scranton, Pa.

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