Sports

Update at 9:00 a.m.:

The WKU-Kansas game will tip-off at 8:50 p.m. Friday in Kansas City, Mo. The game will be aired on TNT.

Original post:

The WKU Hilltoppers are headed to Kansas City, Mo., to take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Hilltoppers are the #16 seed in the South Region, and will be a heavy underdog against the Big 12 tournament champion Jayhawks, the region's #1 seed.

The 20-15 Hilltoppers received an automatic bid to the Big Dance after winning the Sun Belt conference championship last week. This will mark WKU's second straight NCAA appearance.

The Hilltoppers won their first-round matchup last season before losing to eventual national champion Kentucky.

The Marion County Lady Knights came into the season hoping to finish what they started last year. They ended up doing that, plus making history.

Marion County beat Notre Dame 52-36 Saturday night to win the 2013 Kentucky girl's high school basketball championship. The Lady Knights were perfect on the season, 39-0, becoming only the third girl's team in state history to go a season without a loss.

The Lady Knights were open all season about their goal: to win the state title after losing in the championship matchup last year to Louisville DuPont Manual.

Miss Basketball finalist Makayla Epps was named Sweet 16 MVP, twenty years after her father, Anthony Epps, was named MVP of the boy's Sweet 16. Anthony Epps led Marion County to the 1993 championship and has had a front-row seat to his daughter's exploits, serving as an assistant coach to the Lady Knights.

Saturday night's attendance of 6,259 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green was a record for a girl's final at WKU.