Story written and posted by Anthony Perry, Fisher College Interim Sports Information Director
LINCOLN, ILL. – Earlier today, the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) announced the Men’s and Women’s Basketball pairings for the upcoming 2020 A.I.I. Basketball Championship Tournament. For the first time since joining the A.I.I., Fisher College will send both of their teams to the post-season tournament hosted by Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois.
Women’s Basketball: Game #5 – (#3) Fisher College vs. (#6) Washington Adventist University
For the third consecutive season, the Fisher College Women’s Basketball team has qualified for the A.I.I. Tournament. This year, the Falcons earned their highest seeding in program history as they are the overall #3 seed with an overall record of 16-13. They will take on 6th-seeded Washington Adventist University in the tournament’s fifth game.
Both of these teams battled twice this year with each earning a victory on their home court. Back on January 12th, Fisher dropped a road contest at WAU, 65-58, before defeating the Shock in Boston on February 1st, 65-35.
In their prior two trips to the A.I.I. Tournament, the Falcons have suffered quarterfinal defeats as they lost as the fourth-seed to fifth-seeded Wilberforce last season (71-59) and back in 2018 as the tournament’s sixth-seed against third-seeded Stillman College (61-45).
The 2020 Quarterfinal contest is scheduled for Friday, February 28th with a 3pm CST start time.
Men’s Basketball: Game #4 – (#5) Fisher College vs. (#4) College of the Ozarks
With an overall record of 16-11, the Fisher College Men’s Basketball team qualified for the A.I.I. Tournament for the first time since 2017. The fifth-seeded Falcons will battle with the fourth-seeded College of the Ozarks.
This will be the first-ever matchup between the Falcons and the Bobcats, despite the program’s three trips to Point Lookout, Missouri since 2009 when the College of the Ozarks hosted the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament. Fisher qualified for the National Tournament in 2009 and 2011 while making their last trip to the Keeter Gymnasium in 2017 for the A.I.I. Tournament.
In the team’s three previous trips to the A.I.I. Post-Season tournament, the Falcons have not made it past the quarterfinal round. In 2014 they lost to top-seeded Ashford (80-74) before subsequently getting knocked out in 2015 by second-seeded Northern New Mexico (84-78) and in 2017 by third-seeded Central Christian (64-52).
The 2020 Quarterfinal contest is scheduled to begin at 8:15pm on Friday, February 28th.
All games throughout the 2020 A.I.I. Basketball Tournament will be live streamed via the Lincoln College athletics website at www.lincolnlynxsports.com. There will be individual links provided for the Fisher games on the respective teams schedule section on www.FisherFalcons.com.