Valparaiso’s women’s basketball team will open the 2011 Horizon League Championship on Monday evening, March 7 at Calihan Hall in Detroit, Mich. as the Crusaders battle Detroit.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CST.

The Crusaders (7-23, 4-14 Horizon) and Titans (12-17, 6-12) split their regular season meetings, each defending their own home court.  Detroit, the tournament’s seventh seed, posted a 68-52 win in the Motor City on Jan. 6 while the Crusaders, the number 10 seed in the tournament, earned a 57-46 triumph at the Athletics-Recreation Center on Feb. 5.

The game can be seen live online through the Horizon League Network and can be heard live both online at www.valpoathletics.com and on WVUR (95.1-FM, Valparaiso).

The winner of the Valpo-Detroit first round game will head to Indianapolis, Ind. on Wednesday, March 9, for a 6 p.m. game against the number two seed, Butler, in the quarterfinals.  That quarterfinal winner would meet the winner of the third-seeded Cleveland State Vikings and the sixth-seeded UIC Flames in the semifinals on Friday, March 11.

On the other side of the bracket, number eight Loyola will host number nine Youngstown State on Monday in a first round game with the winner headed to top-seeded Green Bay on Wednesday.  The other quarterfinal on that side matches fourth-seeded Wright State and fifth-seeded Milwaukee.

The Horizon League title game, and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, will be decided on Sunday, March 13.