There’s a little bit of basketball fever spreading at Central Methodist University.
Both the women’s and men’s teams have made it to the opening round of the NAIA National Championship tournament. The men will make just a short trip to Kansas City, Mo., while the women travel to Billings, Mont.
The men, with a record of 27-5 and a No. 7 ranking in the NAIA coaches poll, play Wayland Baptist. That game starts at 6:30 p.m. CST Wednesday in Municipal Auditorium. The women, ranked No. 8, play Arizona Christian at 6:45 p.m. CST. The Eagles men’s team finished a perfect 16-0 in Puckett Field House, and they are scoring 81.5 points per game.
The women, led by the nation’s leading scorer DaJonee Hale (28.6 ppg) enter the national tournament on a hot streak. They were victorious in 15 of their last 16 games and continued their hot shooting through the conference tournament, which they won.
A CMU fan bus is planning a Kansas City trip Wednesday to support the men’s team. The bus leaves at 3:15 p.m. For updates on the games, go to cmueagles.com.