The 2025 Conference Commissioners Association Women’s Division 2 Tip-Off Classic will be held in Erie and nearby Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Erie is the home city of former Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Gannon University.

Gannon and nearby PennWest Edinboro University are hosting this year’s event to be held at the Highmark Events Center in Erie and at McComb Fieldhouse in Edinboro.

A dozen games will be played at those arenas over three days, Friday through Sunday, Nov. 7-9, which will also kick off NMU’s season.

The other participants are the two host schools, Ferris State of the GLIAC, Minnesota State-Mankato, PennWest California, Union University and North Georgia.

Each team will play three games, and at least in NMU’s case, will be one game per day.

Schedules for the event, including matchups, game times, locations and ticket information, have yet to be announced, but regardless of who the Wildcats play, it should be a challenging set of opponents.

Mankato won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2024, Union made it to the Final Four this past season, and Ferris got to the Final Four in 2024.

In addition, Gannon made it to the Women’s Elite Eight the past two seasons, Edinboro was the No. 1 seed in last season’s NCAA Atlantic Regional, North Georgia won this year’s Peach Belt Conference tournament and PennWest California finished last season ranked No. 9 in the Atlantic Region.

Northern is coming off of one of its best seasons ever, finishing 23-9 overall and 15-5 in the league, good for second place in the GLIAC regular season. While the Wildcats didn’t win the conference tournament, they did attract an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tourney for the second straight year, this past spring defeating another ex-league member, Hillsdale, in the first round before falling to yet another former GLIAC team, national powerhouse Ashland, in the second round.

“Having played in the CCA Tip-Off Classic before, we know how competitive and meaningful this event is,” said Gannon women’s basketball head coach Cleve Wright in an NMU Sports Information news release. “It’s one of the most prestigious early-season tournaments in D-II women’s basketball.”

NMU teams, both men and women, might have future chances to play in one of these events, considering some of the information listed on the website for the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

It explained more about future CCA tournaments, with three “Dual-Gender” Tip-Off Classics scheduled in 2026, including one in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, a location that both Northern’s men and women have played multiple games in recent years and will again play at this season.

In 2027, GLIAC member Grand Valley State is scheduled to host a Dual-Gender Tip-Off Classic, too.

The CCA touts “these exempt tournaments … (that) offer critical resume building opportunities for participating teams come (NCAA tournament) selection time in March.”

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the announcement. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.