George Washington University Athletics
Women's Basketball Accepts Postseason WNIT Bid
3/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 16, 2009
2009 WNIT Bracket 
| WNIT Media Guide vs. FGCU
WASHINGTON, DC - The George Washington women's basketball team has accepted an at-large bid to the 2009 Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) and will face Florida Gulf Coast University at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, FL, this Thursday, March 19. The bid marks GW's third trip to the WNIT and 18th postseason appearance in the past 19 seasons.
The winner of the GW/FGCU match-up will then travel to Tampa, FL, to face the University of South Florida, the automatic bid recipient from the Big East Conference, Saturday, March 21. Game times will be announced Tuesday, March 17.
The Eagles (25-4) won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title with a 17-3 league mark and received an automatic bid to the WNIT because it is in the Division I reclassifying period and ineligible for the conference and NCAA postseason play.
GW's selection into the 48-team field marks the program's 10th consecutive postseason tournament appearance and 18th overall, all within the last 19 seasons. The Colonials are 1-4 in two previous WNIT appearances, posting an 0-3 mark in the 1993 National Women's Invitational Tournament and 1-1 record in the 2002 WNIT. GW qualified for the NCAA Tournament each of the past six seasons, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2007 and 2008.
GW posted a 17-13 overall record under first-year head coach Mike Bozeman and finished tied for fourth place in the Atlantic 10 standings with a 9-5 league mark. The Colonials join A-10 programs Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Dayton and Duquesne in the WNIT field, which, along with three NCAA Tournament bound teams, marks a record eight A-10 schools to reach the postseason.
The Colonials faced 15 teams to qualify for the 2009 postseason, going 6-10 against a combined eight NCAA and seven WNIT squads.
Bozeman's squad is led by first team All-Atlantic 10 center Jessica Adair, who leads the team in scoring (13.5 ppg), rebounding (7.5 rpg), field-goal percentage (.571), blocks (1.6 bpg) and steals (1.1 spg), and third team All-A-10 forward/guard Antelia Parrish, who averages 11.1 points with 52 made three pointers. Senior Yolanda Lavender has averaged 9.4 points and 4.4 assists in 20 games since becoming eligible in December per NCAA transfer rules, while freshmen Tara Booker, an A-10 All-Rookie Team pick, and Tiana Myers have added 8.1 and 7.1 points per game.
The 48-team tournament field consists of 31 automatic berths and 17 at-large selections. An automatic bid is offered to each conference to the team that finished highest during the regular season and did not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The WNIT recognizes the tiebreakers used by each conference in their tournament seeding. All games in the single-elimination format are played at the home facilities of participating schools. The host site is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc. Due to construction at Charles E. Smith Center, GW will not be able to host any game during the WNIT. For more information, please visit http://www.womensnit.com.
