ROBINSON, Texas (KWTX) - The first female UFC fighter from Central Texas will be making her debut on Texas soil later this month after a medical emergency forced her to withdraw from her first scheduled fight in Las Vegas last month.

Hailey Cowan, 30, was forced to pull out of her February 25 fight in Nevada after an ovarian cyst ruptured hours before the fight.

She says, while that was extremely disappointing, getting the chance to debut in Texas is a dream come true.

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“It was really upsetting. I didn’t get to debut a few weeks ago but, obviously, God had bigger, better plans, and now I get to debut in front of my home state, in front of the people that I love most, and I just can’t wait,” Cowan told KWTX.

Cowan spent 12 hours in the hospital in Vegas before returning to Texas where she wasted no time getting back to training at Blitz Sport MMA & Fitness in Robinson.

At the time Cowan posted to social media saying “I can’t help but feel like I let everyone down. I did everything I could to fight but I have to listen to the doctors and to my team on this one.”

Cowan later clarified that the withdrawal was not a weight cut issue, and days later, shared the news of the ovarian cyst rupture.

“I lost a lot of blood, and the doctors pulled me,” she wrote.

Cowan posted that she hoped to rebook as soon as possible.

The UFC wasted no time getting Hailey back on the books.

Cowan will fight Tamires Vidal, who is 7-1 in MMA and 1-0 in UFC.

The fight will take place starting at 3 p.m. March 25th at AT&T Center in San Antonio.

You can purchase tickets by going to UFC.com.

Cowan is likely to be the first fight and you can watch it on ESPN or ESPN+.

“I do want to thank all of you so much for your prayers,” Cowan said. “I felt them, and God heard them and here we are. Let’s do this.”

Copyright 2023 KWTX. All rights reserved.

Thirty-six teams get NCAA Tournament at-large invitations. Nevada got the 36th and final one of those spots Sunday.

The margin for error was non-existent, but the Wolf Pack will play in its 10th NCAA Tournament in school history and first since 2019.

While most mock brackets — 77 of the 105 tracked by BracketMatrix.com — had Nevada on the outside looking in as Selection Sunday started, the only panel that matters, the NCAA Tournament selection committee, had the Wolf Pack in. Why?

There were a few reasons, but the two biggest were Nevada's advanced metrics — 37th in NET; 43rd in KenPom — and its 4-5 record in Quad 1 games. Every team in the top 37 of NET made the field, the Wolf Pack being the delineation point. The highest-rated NET team not to make the tournament was North Texas, which was one spot behind Nevada at 38th. Only three teams higher than Nevada in KenPom failed to make the field, including Rutgers (No. 35), Oklahoma State (No. 38) and Oregon (No. 41), which beat the Wolf Pack by 13 points at home in non-conference play.

Oklahoma State and Rutgers were the first two teams outside the field followed by North Carolina and Clemson. NCAA Tournament selection committee chair Chris Reynolds was on CBS asked after the bracket was unveiled why Oklahoma State, which went 18-15 overall and 8-10 in the rugged Big 12, didn't make the field over Nevada.

“They had 18 opportunities in the Quad 1 and they won only six games,” Reynolds said. “They had opportunities in the non-conference schedule to win some games and enhance their résumé and they fell short.”

Added CBS analyst Seth Davis on the final selections: “I had Rutgers in the field, but they had four Quad 3 losses so that’s why they were out. Oklahoma State is the one team that got victimized the most by being in the Big 12. They have a lot of Quad 1 wins but too many losses there.”

The committee favored Nevada's 4-5 record in Quad 1 games over Oklahoma State's 6-12. The Cowboys went 4-2 in Quad 2 games to Nevada's 3-3. Rutgers went 4-7 in Quad 1 games and 6-3 in Quad 2 contests. The committee also appeared to put heavy value in NET and KenPom metrics but not ESPN's Basketball Power Index, which rated Rutgers 26, Oklahoma State 33 and Nevada 71.

BPI historically is lower on Mountain West schools than KenPom and NET, and accurately so if you look at the conference's recent NCAA Tournament history.

The MW is 1-11 in its last 12 first-round/First Four games. It has won just two of its last 15 NCAA Tournament games overall. And since it went to its current conference membership in 2013, the MW is 5-17 in the Big Dance. The committee is generally agnostic on conference affiliation, but it can't completely be so. And it looked past the MW's unfavorable showing over the last decade of NCAA tournaments, including an 0-4 record last season.

The selection committee gave the MW credit for finishing fifth in conference NET by rewarding the league with four tournament spots, including three of the five at-large berths awarded to mid-major teams. And that point should be underscored.

If the selection committee went with a high-loss team like Oklahoma State or Rutgers, it would have been open to criticism of rewarding mediocre power-conference teams over mid-majors. Had it put Oklahoma State or Rutgers in the field, the tournament bracket would have included just four mid-major at-large teams out of 36 spots (Houston, Saint Mary's, Boise State, Utah State). It probably didn't want to look biased in favor of power conferences, although Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang stumped for the Cowboys over the Wolf Pack.

“No offense to Nevada but we played both, and Oklahoma State is the much better team," Tang said on CBS Sports Network after the bracket reveal (the Wildcats beat Nevada by nine points in overtime on a neutral court and swept a home-and-home series with Oklahoma State by margins of five and eight points).

Of course, Nevada head coach Steve Alford, who has now led five schools into the NCAA Tournament and has had stops in the Big Ten and Pac-12, had a different point of view.

"I'm so appreciative of the committee giving our league the respect that I think our league deserves," Alford said. "This is my 10th year in this league, and top to bottom it's been the hardest, best league of those 10 years. For us to get four teams in, I think is huge."

And make no mistake Nevada is in the NCAA Tournament because of what it did in MW play because the non-conference results would not merit a spot in the field. Yes, the Wolf Pack went 10-3 in non-league, but it was 0-2 in Quad 1 games and 1-1 in Quad 2 games out of conference. Almost all of its résumé was built against MW teams, and that's true for most of the conference, which won just three Quad 1 games out of league (two over Saint Mary's and one over Texas A&M). The MW's four NCAA Tournament teams were 1-5 in Quad 1 non-conference games with those teams having more Quad 3 losses (two) and Quad 4 losses (two) out of league than Quad 1 wins (one).

Whether the MW got correct credit for its NET numbers or has been overrated like last year will be determined during this week's first slate of games at the NCAA Tournament. But Nevada, coming off three straight losses, earned the faith of the committee and now gets the chance to show it belongs in the field when it faces Arizona State (22-12, 11-9 Pac-12) on Wednesday in a First Four game before a potential matchup with No. 6 seed TCU (21-12, 9-9 Big 12) on Friday in Denver if it beats the Sun Devils.

"I would say it's not very fun to be on to be on the bubble," said Nevada guard Jarod Lucas, who reached the Elite Eight while at Oregon State in 2021. "I mean, maybe for a little bit. Obviously getting your name called, it's big time and you kind of get that that weight off your shoulder. But it's special. ... This is a special opportunity. As a college basketball player, you always look forward to playing in March Madness and it's always a goal, so it's good to be back."

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.

Another year, another verdict from the NCAA men's basketball selection committee on the 2023 field of 68. It generally hit the mark, but it also left plenty of room for nitpicking among those of us who otherwise need to get a life. Here's what it got right, and what it did not:

HIT: Kudos to the committee for working through Sunday afternoon and giving Alabama the No. 1 overall seed. This was a relatively easy call after both Kansas and Houston went down hard in their respective conference championship games. Although no real advantage is gained over the other 1-seeds -- the Crimson Tide were always on a Birmingham/Louisville path -- it's a big deal to sit at the very top of a bracket representing 363 Division I teams.

Brackets are open! Head to Tournament Challenge and fill out your bracket now!

MISS: No offense to Houston, which might very well be my pick to win it all, but Kansas should be at the top of the Midwest Region with a Des Moines/Kansas City path. Why have a quadrant system if we're going to ship a team out of its natural region after posting the most Quadrant 1 wins (17) ever? On the other hand, I hear Las Vegas is pretty excited about hosting its first NCAA tournament, and the Jayhawks' huge fan base figures to have a great time.

HIT: The committee got at least 67 of the teams right. It couldn't have been easy leaving out the likes of Oklahoma State, Clemson and Vanderbilt after all three posted big wins down the stretch -- not to mention North Carolina, which got more debate time than any mediocre team in history. We'll know more after further study, but at first glance it appears the various selection criteria were applied consistently across the board.

MISS: I need to spend more time on the exclusion of Rutgers, which was my only miss, in place of Nevada. I'm fine with Nevada's selection, but I'm pretty sure Rutgers would not have been my choice in that case. The Scarlet Knights were the best of my First Four teams -- ahead of Pitt, NC State and Arizona State -- and had the best win (at Purdue) of any team that will be in the NIT.

HIT: I am again happy to identify a decline in major conference bias. This year, Nevada gets in ahead of Rutgers. Last year, it was Wyoming over Texas A&M. The year before that, Wichita State nipped Louisville for the final spot. This is good for both the health of the sport overall and certainly interest in the early rounds. It also is supported by overwhelming data that the teams I've taken to calling "middling" majors generally perform poorly in the tournament.

MISS: We'll never know what would have happened if the likes of Florida Atlantic, Charleston or Oral Roberts had not captured their respective automatic bids. The selection process has rarely been kind to true mid-majors. As it stands, 31 of 36 at-large bids went to power conference schools.

HIT: The committee also avoided the long-held practice of underseeding non-power-conference schools. Saint Mary's is a 5-seed for the second year in a row, and the Mountain West got three at-large bids for the second straight year. Although it has its detractors, the NET ranking system has generally worked as intended.

MISS: The committee did 7-seed Texas A&M no favors. The Aggies were clearly a line or two better than that. Then again, we said last year that A&M's public temper tantrum over its exclusion from the field was a very bad idea. Committee members are human, after all, perhaps with long memories.

For the rest of us, memories await. And I can't wait. Happy hoops!

No. 11 seed Nevada and No. 11 seed Arizona State face off on Wednesday in an NCAA Tournament First Four game.

The game is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. MST and can be seen on TruTV.

Who will win the game?

Check out these picks and predictions for the contest.

Arizona State is a 1.5-point favorite in the game, according to Tipico Sportsbook.

FanDuel: Arizona State 73, Nevada 68

Devon Platana writes: "I'm going with Arizona State on the spread as the best bet. While neither team has consistently covered the spread recently, Nevada has been worse, going 0-3 ATS in its last three outings. On the other side, the Sun Devils are 8-1-1 ATS in their last 10 games against the MWC and have covered in four of six neutral site games so far this year. With Arizona State also playing the better brand of basketball, I fully expect ASU to win by at least a three-pointer."

More:Southeast Missouri State vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi picks: Who wins First Four game?

More:Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi State predictions: Who wins First Four game?

More:Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Texas Southern picks, predictions: Who wins First Four game?

Fansided: Take Arizona State to cover against Nevada

Josh Yourish writes: "Arizona State is going to be solid on defense and they have Cambridge who can take over games on his own. The Sun Devils are a much more steady unit and considering how bad Nevada has been in their last three I’ll take the Sun Devils. The Mountain West at-large bid went 14-1 at home, but only 8-9 in away games or games at a neutral site, and that’ll show here in Dayton."

NCAA Tournament schedule, TV:March Madness game times, channels, announcers, how to watch

DraftKings: Go with Arizona State to cover vs. Nevada

It writes: "Nevada had a very respectable year in 2022-23, going 12-6 in a Mountain West Conference that wound up being a four-bid league (San Diego State, Utah State and Boise State also received tourney nods). Yet, the Wolf Pack’s play has slipped as of late, dropping three consecutive games heading into the First Four. In regards to Arizona State, they did well to scrap with the cream of the Pac-12, upsetting Southern Cal in the conference quarterfinals. For Wednesday, I believe the Sun Devils show up just a little more ready for the moment."

NCAA Tournament odds:2023 March Madness point spreads, money lines, over/unders for games

Bleacher Nation: Nevada 70, Arizona State 69

Andy Molitor writes: "Nevada has a +184 scoring differential, topping opponents by 5.7 points per game. It is putting up 72.6 points per game, 157th in college basketball, and is giving up 66.9 per contest to rank 83rd in college basketball."

March Madness odds:Houston, Kansas, Alabama, Purdue 2023 men's NCAA Tournament favorites

Sports Chat Place: Take Nevada with the points against ASU

It writes: "I’m going to stay with Nevada here. The Wolf Pack took a tough loss to San Jose State in their last outing, and they’ve now lost three consecutive games. That said, Nevada has still been scoring pretty well in that time with 67 or more points in all three. As for Arizona State, they put up a solid conference tournament showing but couldn’t handle Arizona in their last matchup. The Sun Devils have scored 65 or fewer points in four of their last five games, so it’ll be important for them to get off to a good start. I like a close, competitive matchup here with Nevada ultimately taking it. Should be a fun one to watch."

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Texas A&M-Corpus Christi guard Trevian Tennyson got a taste of the pomp and star treatment at last year’s First Four and wanted more.

The Islanders lost their 2022 play-in game to Texas Southern, which notched its second First Four victory in a row.

“We had meetings at the beginning of the year, and the only thing I told them was, my goal this year was to get back to March Madness,” said Tennyson, who led the Islanders with 15.7 points per game and hit 41% of his 3-pointers. “We’re here, so that’s really it.

“Anything can happen really because it’s March Madness,” Tennyson said Monday. “Last year we started off on a really good trail. We (were) up, I think, almost 15, and we didn’t end up coming up with the win. Really, just anything can happen.”

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-10) has won 12 of its last 13, including the Southland Conference tournament. This time in the First Four, they face the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State, a team that had a losing record before winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the first time in 23 years.

For the Redhawks, it was the first winning season in nine years.

“It’s basketball Christmas. It really is,” Southeast Missouri State coach Brad Korn said. “Every time you turn the corner, you smile at something else. We had a guy playing bagpipes at the hotel today, so what else could you ask for?”

The winner moves on as the 16th seed to face top-seeded Alabama in the first round at Birmingham on Thursday.

THESE GUYS AGAIN

Texas Southern is as close to a First Four regular as the annual play-in event can claim.

The Tigers return to the event for the third straight year and fifth time overall, facing off Wednesday night against Fairleigh Dickinson (17-15), the New Jersey school that won a First Four game in 2019 and is just a year removed from a 4-22 finish.

Texas Southern’s fifth-year coach, Johnny Jones, is 3-0 in the First Four since taking over in 2018. The Tigers come to Dayton this time with a losing record (14-20) but earned the postseason berth by sweeping through the Southwest Conference tournament, beating second-seeded Grambling State in the final.

The winner of the Texas Southern-Fairleigh Dickinson game will jump on Interstate 70 for the hour’s drive to Columbus, where it will slot in as the 16th seed in the East and play top-seeded Purdue on Friday.

DIFFERENT STYLES

Mississippi State and Pitt should be an intriguing matchup because their strengths are so different.

Mississippi State (21-12) is the worst 3-point shooting team in college basketball. Expect the Bulldogs, just 8-10 in the SEC, to try to get to the rim and try to clamp down on Pitt with excellent perimeter defense.

The Panthers (22-11) can make the mid-range and long jumpers but don’t play as well inside, and they aren’t as good defensively.

“One of the things that’s difficult is that we can’t simulate their size and their strength and athleticism in what we’re doing in practice,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “So we really have to be totally dialed in to the little things that add up to big things.”

The winner of the late Tuesday night game advances to Midwest Regional as the 11th seed, facing sixth-seeded Iowa State on Friday.

FAMILIAR FACES

Arizona State (22-12) beat Oregon State and USC in the Pac-12 tournament before being routed in the semifinal by No. 8 Arizona, a team the Sun Devils had bested Feb. 25.

They did so in no small part because of forward Warren Washington and Desmond Cambridge Jr., a fifth-year guard who led the team with 13.7 points per game.

Both players transferred from Nevada — the team Arizona State will face in Wednesday’s late game.

Nevada lost four of its last six games to finish 22-10 but still got picked off the bubble for the play-in game. Guard Jared Lucas leads the way, averaging 17.3 points and hitting 38% of his 3-point shots.

The winner moves on as the 11th seed in the West and a Friday matchup with TCU.

MOVING ON

For bracketeers looking for a Cinderella to come out of Dayton, it could happen.

In fact, at least one First Four team has gone on to win another game in the tournament every year except 2019. The event has been played in Dayton every year since 2011, except for 2020, when it was canceled because of the pandemic, and 2021 when it was moved under the COVID-19 bubble in Indianapolis.

In 2011, No. 11 seed VCU got on a roll and went all the way to the Final Four, beating No. 1 Kansas in the regional final.