The Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament begins tonight with No. 8 seed University of Sioux Falls women's basketball team (17-13 overall, 9-9 GPAC) hosting No. 9 seed Doane College (12-17 overall, 8-10 GPAC) at the Stewart Center. The game will begin at 7:00 p.m. and it is a "Storm the Stewie" night, with the first 50 students wearing white shirts getting in free.

In the only meeting of the two teams this season, the Cougars lost to the Tigers 68-62 in Crete, Neb. Sophomore Jamey Hofer (Hartford, S.D.) had her best game of the year, dropping 22 points, grabbing six rebounds and recording two assists. Sophomore Becky Christofferson (Summit, S.D.) had 11 points in the January 30th contest, with junior Jessica Austin (Centerville, S.D.) tallying nine scores.

This season the USF women boast an impressive resume of wins, taking down two teams (Jamestown and Briar Cliff) ranked No. 5 in the NAIA at the time of the game. Sophomore Betsy Hildreth (Norwalk, Iowa) leads USF in scoring and rebounds, averaging 11 points and six boards per game. Freshman Holli Aggen (Worthington, MN) has a team-leading 83 assists on the season. The Cougars have played well at home, evident by a 9-3 record at the Stewart Center.

With Hastings College winning the regular season conference crown and USF not being ranked high enough in the NAIA polls, the Cougars would need to run the table in the tournament to earn an invite to the national tournament. USF will have to overcome a recent losing skid that saw the Cougars lose six of their last eight games of the regular season.

The winner of tonight's game will take trip to Hastings, Neb. on Thursday, February 25 with the thoughts of upset on their mind, having to play NAIA No. 1 Hastings College (27-3 overall, 17- GPAC).