INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Valdosta State women's basketball team learned Wednesday afternoon that it is fourth in the initial NCAA Division II Women's Basketball South Region rankings, released by the NCAA national office. 
 
This is the first of three public region rankings, which the second rankings will be announced next Wednesday (Feb. 23) and then again Mar. 2, prior to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Selection Show, which is scheduled for the evening of Mar. 6.  The Selection Show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.  
 
Click here or on the link to the right of this story for the complete NCAA Region Rankings.
 
Union (Tenn.) headlines the first rankings, followed by Tampa, Eckerd and the Lady Blazers, while Lee rounds out the top five.  Tuskegee sits sixth, followed by Benedict, Savannah State, Florida Southern and West Florida is tenth.   The Gulf South Conference has four teams in the top ten of the rankings, while the Sunshine State conference and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference each have three.
 
The top eight teams in the region will qualify for the NCAA South Region Championship when the selections are made public on Mar. 6.  The No. 1-ranked team in the region most likely will host the NCAA South Regional Mar. 11-14, with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eight at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala., for the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. 
 
VSU is looking for its 14^th appearance in the NCAA postseason as the team went 1-1 last year, defeating Lee and falling in heartbreaking fashion to eventual NCAA South Region champion Lander.  VSU is 14-13 all-time in the NCAA postseason with a third-place finish in 1984.
 
The Lady Blazers close out the 2021-22 home slate with two important GSC games this week, with No. 25 Lee visiting Thursday at 6 p.m. at The Complex, followed by Shorter on Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day.