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Contributed by: Chris Macaluso, ACU Assistant Director of Media Relations
ABILENE - The Women's National Invitational Tournament Monday announced that the Abilene Christian Wildcats will play UTEP in a first-round game set for Thursday, March 17 in El Paso, Texas. Game time will be announced Tuesday.
Ticket information can be found at UTEPAthletics.com.
The Wildcats were chosen as the WNIT's Southland Conference automatic qualifier March 3 after clinching a share of the league's regular-season title with Central Arkansas. ACU took sole possession of first place two days later following its win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 63-52, in the season finale.
Led by Southland Conference Coach of the Year Julie Goodenough, the Wildcats produced the fourth-highest win total in the program history at 26-3 (.897). They also set a school record with 17 conference victories (17-1, .944) and had three players named to all-conference teams, including Southland Conference Player of the Year Alexis Mason.
Mason averaged a league best 19.9 points per game through her 18 conference starts and shot an impressive 46.5 percent from the floor while knocking down 38.5 percent of her 3-pointers (57-148). Junior Suzzy Dimba received Second Team All-Conference honors as well as her third consecutive All-Defensive Team citation. Junior Sydney Shelstead made Third Team All-Conference for the second straight season.
UTEP won the Conference USA regular-season title with a 16-2 record and posted an overall record of 26-4. The Miners most-recent defeat took place Friday to Old Dominion in the second round C-USA Championships, 66-54.
UTEP is led by three-time C-USA Head Coach of the Year Keitha Adams, who led the Minest to their third regular-season title (2008, 2012 and 2016) since joining the league. UTEP matched the school and league standard for C-USA wins (16) while also posting 20+ wins for the fourth time in the past five years.
Senior Cameasha Turner, redshirt-junior Jenzel Nash and senior Starr Breedlove all were been named to the 2016 All Conference USA teams.
ACU is 0-2 all-time vs. UTEP, losing 82-72 in 1993 and 93-70 in 1979.
The Wildcats have competed in a variety of postseason championships in their 45-year history ranging from the Texas AIWA State Tournament to the NCAA DII National Tournament and the DII South Central Regional. ACU was part of a dozen regional brackets from 1985 to 2013 and made its lone national appearance in 1996, when the Wildcats finished third with an overall record of 31-2 (.939).
This postseason appearance is the 10th of Goodenough's career, but her first in the WNIT. She led Charleston Southern twice to the WBI and made it to the NCAA DII regionals with the Wildcats in 2013 following their share of the Lone Star Conference Championship with Midwestern State.
Goodenough started her coaching career at Hardin-Simmons in 1993 and guided the Cowgirls to a 188-54 record through her nine seasons there, leaving as the winningest coach in school history. Three of her last four HSU teams advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16, and her 1999-00 squad made it to the Elite 8 with a 27-2 record.
The Postseason WNIT is owned and produced by Triple Crown Sports, based in Fort Collins, Colo. TCS also organizes men's and women's college basketball tournaments in Cancun, and the Preseason WNIT. TCS is the leader in youth and collegiate sports and manages more than 100 amateur sporting events across the country in volleyball, fastpitch softball, baseball and basketball. With 33 years of experience in the event business, TCS is nationally-recognized as a premier tournament organization.
First-round action tips off Wednesday, March 16 and concludes Friday, March 18. Second-round games will run March 19-22, Round three goes March 23-25, quarterfinals are March 26-28, and semifinals will be played March 30-31. The championship game will be played Saturday, April 2 and will be televised live and in HD on CBS Sports Network at 3 p.m. ET. All games are hosted by participating schools.
This year's tournament features six teams from the Big Ten, five from the Mid-American Conference and four each from the ACC, C-USA and West Coast Conference.
Four conferences each placed three teams - American, A-10, Big East and Colonial. Other conferences represented include Big West (2), Horizon (2), Missouri Valley (2), Pac-12 (2), Summit (2), Sun Belt (2), America East (1), Atlantic Sun (1), Big 12 (1), Big Sky (1), Big South (1), Ivy (1), MAAC (1), MEAC (1), Mountain West (1), Northeast (1), OVC (1), Patriot (1), SEC (1), Southern (1), Southland (1), SWAC (1) and WAC (1).
There are 18 teams that either won or tied for their conference title in the 2016 field.
Tournament officials award an Automatic Qualifying berth to each of the nation's 32 conferences. The spot goes to the team that finishes the highest in the regular-season conference standings that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament. If there is a tie, the WNIT abides by the conference tiebreaker. A team earns the AQ berth regardless of its overall record. A total of 32 teams are then given an At-Large berth; a team must have an overall record of .500 or better to be considered.
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ABILENE - The Women's National Invitational Tournament Monday announced that the Abilene Christian Wildcats will play UTEP in a first-round game set for Thursday, March 17 in El Paso, Texas. Game time will be announced Tuesday.
Ticket information can be found at UTEPAthletics.com.
The Wildcats were chosen as the WNIT's Southland Conference automatic qualifier March 3 after clinching a share of the league's regular-season title with Central Arkansas. ACU took sole possession of first place two days later following its win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 63-52, in the season finale.
Led by Southland Conference Coach of the Year Julie Goodenough, the Wildcats produced the fourth-highest win total in the program history at 26-3 (.897). They also set a school record with 17 conference victories (17-1, .944) and had three players named to all-conference teams, including Southland Conference Player of the Year Alexis Mason.
Mason averaged a league best 19.9 points per game through her 18 conference starts and shot an impressive 46.5 percent from the floor while knocking down 38.5 percent of her 3-pointers (57-148). Junior Suzzy Dimba received Second Team All-Conference honors as well as her third consecutive All-Defensive Team citation. Junior Sydney Shelstead made Third Team All-Conference for the second straight season.
UTEP won the Conference USA regular-season title with a 16-2 record and posted an overall record of 26-4. The Miners most-recent defeat took place Friday to Old Dominion in the second round C-USA Championships, 66-54.
UTEP is led by three-time C-USA Head Coach of the Year Keitha Adams, who led the Minest to their third regular-season title (2008, 2012 and 2016) since joining the league. UTEP matched the school and league standard for C-USA wins (16) while also posting 20+ wins for the fourth time in the past five years.
Senior Cameasha Turner, redshirt-junior Jenzel Nash and senior Starr Breedlove all were been named to the 2016 All Conference USA teams.
ACU is 0-2 all-time vs. UTEP, losing 82-72 in 1993 and 93-70 in 1979.
The Wildcats have competed in a variety of postseason championships in their 45-year history ranging from the Texas AIWA State Tournament to the NCAA DII National Tournament and the DII South Central Regional. ACU was part of a dozen regional brackets from 1985 to 2013 and made its lone national appearance in 1996, when the Wildcats finished third with an overall record of 31-2 (.939).
This postseason appearance is the 10th of Goodenough's career, but her first in the WNIT. She led Charleston Southern twice to the WBI and made it to the NCAA DII regionals with the Wildcats in 2013 following their share of the Lone Star Conference Championship with Midwestern State.
Goodenough started her coaching career at Hardin-Simmons in 1993 and guided the Cowgirls to a 188-54 record through her nine seasons there, leaving as the winningest coach in school history. Three of her last four HSU teams advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16, and her 1999-00 squad made it to the Elite 8 with a 27-2 record.
The Postseason WNIT is owned and produced by Triple Crown Sports, based in Fort Collins, Colo. TCS also organizes men's and women's college basketball tournaments in Cancun, and the Preseason WNIT. TCS is the leader in youth and collegiate sports and manages more than 100 amateur sporting events across the country in volleyball, fastpitch softball, baseball and basketball. With 33 years of experience in the event business, TCS is nationally-recognized as a premier tournament organization.
First-round action tips off Wednesday, March 16 and concludes Friday, March 18. Second-round games will run March 19-22, Round three goes March 23-25, quarterfinals are March 26-28, and semifinals will be played March 30-31. The championship game will be played Saturday, April 2 and will be televised live and in HD on CBS Sports Network at 3 p.m. ET. All games are hosted by participating schools.
This year's tournament features six teams from the Big Ten, five from the Mid-American Conference and four each from the ACC, C-USA and West Coast Conference.
Four conferences each placed three teams - American, A-10, Big East and Colonial. Other conferences represented include Big West (2), Horizon (2), Missouri Valley (2), Pac-12 (2), Summit (2), Sun Belt (2), America East (1), Atlantic Sun (1), Big 12 (1), Big Sky (1), Big South (1), Ivy (1), MAAC (1), MEAC (1), Mountain West (1), Northeast (1), OVC (1), Patriot (1), SEC (1), Southern (1), Southland (1), SWAC (1) and WAC (1).
There are 18 teams that either won or tied for their conference title in the 2016 field.
Tournament officials award an Automatic Qualifying berth to each of the nation's 32 conferences. The spot goes to the team that finishes the highest in the regular-season conference standings that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament. If there is a tie, the WNIT abides by the conference tiebreaker. A team earns the AQ berth regardless of its overall record. A total of 32 teams are then given an At-Large berth; a team must have an overall record of .500 or better to be considered.
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