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Middle Tennessee State women's basketball will be playing in the Women's National Invitational Tournament.
The Lady Raiders' first-round opponent and the 48-team tournament bracket won't be released until March 16.
It will be MTSU's fifth WNIT appearance in the past decade and sixth in the past 12 seasons, all under coach Rick Insell.
First-round games will be played March 19-21; Round 2 will be March 22-24.
The Super 16 will be held March 25-27 and the Great 8 on March 28-30. The semifinals will be held March 31-April 1, with the championship game on April 4 at a site to be determined.
Teams in the tournament include automatic qualifiers (those who were No. 2 seeds in their conference tournaments but did not receive an NCAA Tournament bid): Abilene Christian (23-10); Alcorn State (17-13); Florida International (20-11); Lamar (20-10); Mercyhurst (15-16); Montana State (25-7); Radford (22-12); Maryland Eastern Shore (19-14); and Youngstown State (24-9).
MORE: How MTSU assistant's wife has battled breast cancer, put sports in perspective
At-large teams invited: Air Force (16-18), Arkansas State (24-9), Army (24-7), Austin Peay (19-13), Binghamton (19-12), Bradley (20-12), Cleveland State (24-9), Drexel (21-10), Florida Gulf Coast (16-15), George Washington (15-17), Illinois State (20-13), LaSalle (18-13), Lehigh (17-14), Loyola Chicago (14-17), Marshall (23-9), Merrimack (19-12), Monmouth (20-11), Morehead State (18-14), NJIT (18-12), Norfolk State (18-14), Northern Colorado (22-10), Ohio (18-13), Pepperdine (19-12), Portland (18-14), Purdue Fort Wayne (20-13), Sam Houston (18-12), San Francisco (18-14), South Alabama (16-18), South Dakota (23-9), Southern Indiana (21-10), Southern Utah (19-12), St. Bonaventure (16-15), Stetson (20-11), UC Davis (23-10), UMBC (16-14), Utah Valley (16-14), UTRGV (20-13) and Wake Forest (14-17).
MTSU is making its second appearance in the WNIT since the 2021-22 season, when it reached the semifinals. That was followed by back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament and an appearance in the WBIT last season, where it fell to Belmont in the opening round.
MORE: Israel air strikes send 3 former MTSU women's basketball players to bunkers
MTSU is 16-15 overall and was 11-7 in Conference USA. Three of its losses came against SEC teams Tennessee, Mississippi State and Auburn.
MTSU finished as the No. 3 seed entering the CUSA Tournament before falling to No. 6 seed Missouri State 69-66 in the quarterfinals.
Insell captured his 500th victory with the Lady Raiders during the regular season, a 63-54 home win over Liberty on Jan. 23. He has taken MTSU to a postseason tournament every season since he took over in 2005, including 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and six WNIT appearances.
FOOTBALL: Who will Derek Mason, MTSU football play in 2026? Full schedule released
Senior Alayna Contreras leads MTSU in scoring (13.7) and assists (2.1). CUSA Freshman of the Year Blair Baugus is second on the team in scoring (12.4) and first in rebounding (9.1). Fellow freshman Macie Phifer averages 11.7 points and 5.9 rebounds a game.
Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU women's basketball to play in WNIT tournament
Continue reading...
The Lady Raiders' first-round opponent and the 48-team tournament bracket won't be released until March 16.
It will be MTSU's fifth WNIT appearance in the past decade and sixth in the past 12 seasons, all under coach Rick Insell.
First-round games will be played March 19-21; Round 2 will be March 22-24.
The Super 16 will be held March 25-27 and the Great 8 on March 28-30. The semifinals will be held March 31-April 1, with the championship game on April 4 at a site to be determined.
Teams in the tournament include automatic qualifiers (those who were No. 2 seeds in their conference tournaments but did not receive an NCAA Tournament bid): Abilene Christian (23-10); Alcorn State (17-13); Florida International (20-11); Lamar (20-10); Mercyhurst (15-16); Montana State (25-7); Radford (22-12); Maryland Eastern Shore (19-14); and Youngstown State (24-9).
MORE: How MTSU assistant's wife has battled breast cancer, put sports in perspective
At-large teams invited: Air Force (16-18), Arkansas State (24-9), Army (24-7), Austin Peay (19-13), Binghamton (19-12), Bradley (20-12), Cleveland State (24-9), Drexel (21-10), Florida Gulf Coast (16-15), George Washington (15-17), Illinois State (20-13), LaSalle (18-13), Lehigh (17-14), Loyola Chicago (14-17), Marshall (23-9), Merrimack (19-12), Monmouth (20-11), Morehead State (18-14), NJIT (18-12), Norfolk State (18-14), Northern Colorado (22-10), Ohio (18-13), Pepperdine (19-12), Portland (18-14), Purdue Fort Wayne (20-13), Sam Houston (18-12), San Francisco (18-14), South Alabama (16-18), South Dakota (23-9), Southern Indiana (21-10), Southern Utah (19-12), St. Bonaventure (16-15), Stetson (20-11), UC Davis (23-10), UMBC (16-14), Utah Valley (16-14), UTRGV (20-13) and Wake Forest (14-17).
MTSU is making its second appearance in the WNIT since the 2021-22 season, when it reached the semifinals. That was followed by back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament and an appearance in the WBIT last season, where it fell to Belmont in the opening round.
MORE: Israel air strikes send 3 former MTSU women's basketball players to bunkers
MTSU is 16-15 overall and was 11-7 in Conference USA. Three of its losses came against SEC teams Tennessee, Mississippi State and Auburn.
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MTSU finished as the No. 3 seed entering the CUSA Tournament before falling to No. 6 seed Missouri State 69-66 in the quarterfinals.
Insell captured his 500th victory with the Lady Raiders during the regular season, a 63-54 home win over Liberty on Jan. 23. He has taken MTSU to a postseason tournament every season since he took over in 2005, including 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and six WNIT appearances.
FOOTBALL: Who will Derek Mason, MTSU football play in 2026? Full schedule released
Senior Alayna Contreras leads MTSU in scoring (13.7) and assists (2.1). CUSA Freshman of the Year Blair Baugus is second on the team in scoring (12.4) and first in rebounding (9.1). Fellow freshman Macie Phifer averages 11.7 points and 5.9 rebounds a game.
Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU women's basketball to play in WNIT tournament
Continue reading...
