March 15, 2010

2010 WNIT Bracket
Illini-WKU Ticket Information

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois has been selected to play in the 2010 Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) and will face Western Kentucky on the road in the opening round on Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m. CT. It marks the 12th time in the last 14 years the Fighting Illini have been selected to play in the postseason.

The Illinois-WKU winner will face the winner of the Marquette-Eastern Illinois game in the second round, with the location and date to be determined. The Fighting Illini were unable to host a first round game because of a scheduling conflict at Assembly Hall, but could potentially host games later in the tournament should they advance.

Illinois (16-14) enters the tournament on a roll, having won three of its last four with the lone loss coming to No. 10 Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. The Fighting Illini finished tied for eighth in the Big Ten regular season standings with a 7-11 mark. Senior All-America candidate Jenna Smith enters the tournament just two points shy of breaking the Illinois all-time scoring record of 2,089 points, currently held by Ashley Berggren.

This will be Illinois' fifth trip to the WNIT in the last six years and its seventh appearance overall in the tournament. The Orange and Blue made appearances in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and have an overall record of 5-6 in WNIT action. In 2008, the Illini got a first round bye and then beat Drake in a second round home game, 48-44, before falling to Marquette on the road in the third round, 72-64.

The WNIT was formerly a 48-team tournament, but has expanded to 64 teams this season. The top regular season finisher in each of the nation's 31 conferences that did not earn an NCAA Tournament bid received an automatic bid to the WNIT, and the rest of the field was filled with 33 at-large bids.

Illinois received an at-large bid and is one of five Big Ten teams in the field. The Illini join Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue (automatic qualifier) in the WNIT, while Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa and Wisconsin all earned bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Western Kentucky (21-10) is an automatic qualifier from the Sun Belt Conference. The Lady Toppers had a 14-4 conference record to finish second in the Sun Belt East Division behind Middle Tennessee State. The Toppers were knocked out the Sun Belt Tournament by MTSU in the semifinals. Two Sun Belt teams, MTSU and Arkansas-Little Rock were selected for the NCAA Tournament, giving WKU the automatic WNIT bid.

For more information on the Women's National Invitation Tournament visit www.womensnit.com