Women's Basketball to Open Season In Pre-Season WNIT
June 21, 2011
UCLA will open the 2011-12 women's basketball season in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament with a first round game against McNeese State (Lake Charles, Louisiana) on Nov. 11 (Veteran's Day) at 2 p.m. in the John Wooden Center on the Bruin campus.
The bracket for the Tournament was announced on Tuesday. Top 10 teams from a year ago in UCLA, Baylor, and Notre Dame are included in the field that features nine teams that played in the 2011 postseason.
The Bruins return three starters from last season's 28-5 team which set a record for regular season wins with 26 and Pac-10 Conference wins with 16. All-America candidate Jasmine Dixon headlines new Bruin head coach Cori Close's squad and averaged 12.1 ppg and a team best 7.3 rebounds per contest last season.
McNeese State also posted a record-setting season a year ago and tied the best turnaround in NCAA history with a 26-7 record after winning seven games the year before. The Cowgirls captured both the Southland Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and played in their first NCAA Tournament in school history.
All first-round Preseason WNIT games will be played on Friday, Nov. 11 and are listed below with 2010-11 team record in parentheses.
Friday, Nov. 11, 2011
Top Half of the Bracket includes:
McNeese State (26-7) at UCLA (28-5), 5 p.m. ET
Tennessee Tech (23-8) at ETSU (19-12), 7 p.m. ET
UAB (20-15) at Chattanooga (17-14), 7 p.m. ET
Howard (16-18) at Baylor (34-3), 7:30 p.m. ET
Bottom Half of the Bracket includes:
Akron (14-16) at Notre Dame (31-8), 7 p.m. ET
Detroit (13-18) at Indiana State (16-16), 8 p.m. ET
Long Island (19-11) at Drexel (19-13), 7 p.m. ET
Manhattan (24-10) at Hartford (17-16), 8 p.m. ET
The Preseason WNIT features a three-game guarantee format. The event opens Nov. 11 with first-round games. Second-round games will be played Nov. 13-14 and sites will be announced following the first round results; semifinals will be Nov. 16-17; and the championship is set for Sunday, Nov. 20. Teams that lose in the first two rounds will play consolation games on the second weekend, Nov. 18-19. All games are hosted by participating schools.
Note --- should UCLA win its first round game on Nov. 11, and be selected to host a second round contest, it would be played on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. Pacific time in the John Wooden Center on campus.
For more information about the WNIT visit the website at www.womensnit.com.