Family, friends and fans burst in cheers inside the Matadors Spirit Room as the ESPN anchors announced that the CSUN women’s basketball team will be facing the University of South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 15.

Matador’s head coach Jason Flowers stood before his players and the crowd shortly after the announcement and expressed his excitement for the upcoming game in Seattle on March 15 at the Alaska Airlines Arena.

“We are going to tell them how great they are, we are going to fluff them up a little bit and we’re going to go up there and prepare to win,” Flowers said.

The announcement was counter to the projections that anticipated the Matadors facing off against Stanford and their top shooter Chiney Ogwumike, who stands third in the nation for shooting, at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.

Northridge was given the lowest ranking in the Stanford region of the tournament bracket and will play against the top-seeded Gamecocks in the first round of the tournament.

The SC Gamecocks are coming off a loss 68-58 in the Southeastern Semi-final Championship game against the University of Kentucky.

CSUN defeated the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mustangs March 15 in a wire-to-wire victory 73-58 to earn their first ever conference championship.

The last time the Matador’s women’s basketball team made the NCAA Tournament was in 1999.

“We are not satisfied just being there,” said head coach Jason Flowers.”We are going to go out there, we are going to compete, and we are going to make all you guys proud.”