The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Xavier women's basketball team will play Fordham at 4 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Saint Joseph's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse in Philadelphia.

The Muskies finished 16-11 overall. They are the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic 10 West with an 8-8 league record. Fordham finished 11-16 overall. The Rams are the No. 5 seed in the A-10 East at 4-12.

The winner of Friday's first-round game will play Temple at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Owls (18-9, 14-2) have a bye into the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed in the East.

In the regular season meeting between Xavier and Fordham, the Musketeers beat the Rams 81-69 at Cintas Center on Jan. 18.

Tara Boothe leads Xavier with 18.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She has 978 career points. XU enters the tournament with the longest active streak of semifinal appearances in the A-10 with six. The Musketeers won the A-10 Championship in 2000 and 2001.

Men: RPI drops

Xavier's loss to Duquesne Saturday dropped the Musketeers six spots in the ratings percentage index to No. 61 according to www.CollegeRPI.com With only two regular-season games left, there is little room for Xavier (17-10) to improve its RPI before the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament March 10-13. Xavier's RPI standing is the fourth-best in the A-10, seven spots ahead of Wednesdays opponent, George Washington, which defeated Xavier 81-60 Jan. 28.