True to form from last Wednesday's final regional rankings, the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team will be the No. 2 seed at this weekend's NCAA Central Region Tournament in Mankato, Minn.

The FLC men jumped a spot to No. 5 on Sunday.

Neither team, however, will have to face a familiar foe in the first round of the Division II Basketball Championships.

The FLC women, ranked No. 4 in the nation, lost in the semifinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout for the second consecutive year to CSU-Pueblo.

CSU-Pueblo, which earned the 6-seed in the Central Region Tournament, won the Shootout title Saturday.

Minnesota State-Mankato earned the No. 1 seed. Mankato (26-2) will host No. 8 Augustana, S.D., (20-8) at 6 p.m. Friday.

Fort Lewis (26-3) will play No. 7 St. Cloud (Minn.) State (22-8) at 1 p.m. Friday.

CSU-Pueblo (22-8) will play No. 3 Winona (Minn.) State (23-6) at 3 p.m. Friday.

Fort Lewis, making its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and CSU-Pueblo will play for a possible rematch in the NCAA round of 32, a Central Regional semi.

Nebraska-Kearney, the No. 4 seed and the third RMAC women's team to reach the tournament, will play No. 5 Minnesota State-Moorhead (21-7) at 8 p.m. Friday. Nebraska-Kearney, which also lost in the Shootout semifinals, is 20-9 overall.

Metro State and Fort Lewis, last weekend's Shootout finalists in the men's tournament, were the only men's representatives from the RMAC in this weekend's Central Regional Tournament in Marshall, Minn.

Metro State defeated FLC 84-78 in Saturday night's conference tournament championship game in Pueblo.

Metro State earned the 3-seed and FLC the 5-seed. The two teams are on opposite sides of the bracket.

Southwest Minnesota State (21-5) will host No. 8 Northern (S.D.) State (19-10) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Metro State (27-3) will play No. 6 Winona (Minn.) State (23-8) at noon Saturday.

No. 4 Minnesota State-Mankato (25-8) will play FLC (24-9) at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

This will be the Fort Lewis men's basketball team's sixth appearance in the NCAA D-II Tournament.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com