ESTERO, Fla. - First-round pairings for the 2015 Gulf Coast Showcase were announced today by the event's organizer, bd Global, a Lexington, Ky.-based sports marketing firm. The 17th-ranked University of Dayton women's basketball team will square off against Maine on Friday, Nov. 27 at 11 a.m. as the third-annual Gulf Coast Showcase returns to Germain Arena in Estero, Fla.

Following Thanksgiving day, the women's Showcase gets underway featuring a field that includes eight teams coming off post-season berths a year ago, four teams of which participated in the NCAA Tournament. First-round play begins on Friday, Nov. 27 with the following schedule:

11:00 a.m. ET – Dayton vs. Maine
1:30 p.m. ET – Stanford vs. Missouri State
5:00 p.m. ET – Louisville vs. Marist
7:30 p.m. ET – LSU vs. Purdue

"This year's Gulf Cost Showcase has a field that is loaded with Top-25 caliber teams and ranks among the best events in all of women's basketball," said Debbie Antonelli, ESPN analyst and Gulf Coast Showcase Tournament Host. "Many thanks to all of our teams and coaches for taking part in the event and it will certainly be a tremendous week of basketball in Southwest Florida."

"Opening Games" schedule
As part of the event, two "opening games" will be played at home sites:
MidAmerica Nazarene at Missouri State – Nov. 17
Colby College at Maine – Dec. 1

Travel Package and Ticket Information
Tickets for the 2015 Gulf Coast Showcase are on-sale now at GermainArena.com or through Ticketmaster. All-Tournament passes for either the men's tournament or women's tournament will be available on that date for $89 or $139 per tournament. Single session tickets are also now on-sale and range from $10 General Admission to $45 Courtside for each two-game session. Each day of the tournament will feature an afternoon session (starts at 12 p.m. for men's and 11 a.m. for women's) and evening session (starts at 6 p.m. for men's and 5 p.m. for women's) and tickets will be good for both games of a given session. All-session passes have been on-sale since April and will continue to be available to fans.

WorldTEK, a full-service travel management company with more than 40+ years of experience, is the official travel package provider for the Gulf Coast Showcase. Information on fan travel packages is available on GulfCoastShowcase.com.

For complete information, visit www.gulfcoastshowcase.com or follow on Twitter at @GCShowcase.