The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team has earned the No. 5 seed for the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, and the Panthers will take on No. 4 seed Creighton in the MVC Quarterfinals on Fri., Mar. 9. The Panthers and Bluejays will tip at 2:35 p.m. at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

UNI has claimed the last two MVC Tournament crowns -- as the top seed in 2011, and as the fifth-seed in 2010. The Panthers are in search of their third consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.

UNI, Indiana State and Drake finished the regular season in a three-way tie for fifth place in the MVC standings at 9-9, but the Panthers came out on top in the league's power rankings tiebreaker.

Missouri State will be the league's top seed and will face the winner of No. 8 seed Bradley and No. 9 seed Southern Illinois. The Braves and Salukis will meet on Thu., Mar. 8, at 4:05 p.m. in the tourney's opening game.

The winner between UNI and Creighton will meet the Missouri State/Bradley/Southern Illinois winner in the semifinals.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 seed Drake and No. 10 seed Evansville will play at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday evening for the chance to take on No. 2 seed Illinois State in Friday's quarterfinal. Third-seeded Wichita State and sixth-seeded Indiana State fill out the final quarterfinal contest on Friday night.

UNI (16-13, 9-9 MVC) and Creighton (17-12, 11-7) have met twice already this season, with the Bluejays claiming a 65-50 victory in Omaha on Jan. 27 and a 74-48 win in Cedar Falls on Feb. 24.