March 17, 2008

2008 WNIT Tournament Bracket

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri State women's basketball was selected to compete in the 11th annual Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) after the tournament organizers announced the 48 participating teams and bracket pairings on its website Monday night.

The Redhawks head to Indiana for a first round game at Evansville from the Missouri Valley Conference on Thursday night at the PAC Arena located on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana with the game time being announced tomorrow by the WNIT. The winner of Thursday's game will advance to play at Kansas in the second round on Monday.

Southeast (23-8) extended its streak of postseason appearances to three in a row and its second consecutive postseason berth under head coach John Ishee after winning its third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship by producing a school-record 17-3 mark in conference play. This is the third consecutive season that the OVC has earned a berth into the WNIT and the second straight year since the tournament started giving automatic berths to the nation's 31 conferences.

Evansville enters the tournament with a 20-11 record after claiming a share of the MVC regular-season crown with a 13-5 conference record and earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. The Purple Aces advanced to the semifinals of last weekend's MVC Tournament before falling to Drake by a score of 46-41.

For more information on the WNIT, please visit www.womensnit.com.