FORT COLLINS, CO – The 2024 Postseason WNIT and its 48-team bracket launches with a flourish this week, with times, dates and locations now secured for the 16 Round 1 games on the schedule.
 
This marks the 26^th edition of the Postseason WNIT, powered by Triple Crown Sports and first held in 1998. The tournament field is made up of 11 automatic qualifiers and 37 at-large programs, flexing a mix of Power 4 conferences as well as ascending mid-major programs.
 
The Round 1 date/time schedule and the Round 2 bye opponents are as follows (NOTE – teams with first-round byes are not guaranteed to play at home in Round 2):
 
Wednesday, March 20
UAB at Southern Miss, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Murray State, TBA
 
Eastern Kentucky at Purdue Fort Wayne, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Cincinnati, TBA
 
Boise State at Montana, 9 p.m. ET
Winner plays North Dakota State, TBA
 
Thursday, March 21
Monmouth at Buffalo, 6 p.m. ET
Winner plays Duquesne, TBA
 
UAlbany at Colgate, 6 p.m. ET
Winner plays Providence, TBA
 
Bowling Green at Butler, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Purdue, TBA
 
Charleston at USC Upstate, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Illinois State, TBA
 
Stetson at Florida International, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Troy, TBA
 
Northern Colorado at UTSA, 7:30 p.m. ET
Winner plays Wyoming, TBA
 
Saint Louis at Central Arkansas, 7:30 p.m. ET
Winner plays Northern Iowa, TBA
 
Grambling at Oral Roberts, 8 p.m. ET
Winner plays Louisiana-Monroe, TBA
 
UC Riverside at South Dakota, 8 p.m. ET
Winner plays Northern Arizona, TBA
 
UIC at Southern Indiana, 8 p.m. ET
Winner plays Wisconsin, TBA
 
Cal Poly at Pacific, 9 p.m. ET
Winner plays Minnesota, TBA
 
Friday, March 22
Le Moyne at Niagara, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Vermont, TBA
 
UNC Greensboro at North Carolina A&T, 7 p.m. ET
Winner plays Old Dominion, TBA

ABOUT THE VALLEY TEAMS

UIC women's basketball team (18-15) will tip off its first appearance in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 17 years at 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET) Thursday when the Flames take on Ohio Valley Conference champion Southern Indiana (24-6) in a first-round game live on ESPN+, tournament officials announced Monday evening.

This announcement comes on the heels of the Flames being selected to compete in the 48-team field Sunday evening, marking the first time in program history that UIC has earned back-to-back postseason tournament appearances.

With a victory on Thursday, UIC would advance to a WNIT second-round game at Wisconsin (13-16). That second-round matchup will take place between March 23-26 at a time to be determined.
 

Illinois State women's basketball team was selected to play in the 26th edition of the Postseason WNIT and received a first-round bye, the WNIT announced Monday.  

The Redbirds will face the winner of the Charleston at USC Upstate which will take place on Thursday, March 20, in the First Round. WNIT Second Round games will take place March 23-26, and Illinois State's game time, date and location will be announced following the completion of the first-round contests. 

REDBIRDS IN THE WNIT 

Illinois State (21-11) has earned four-straight postseason appearances for the first time since making seven-straight from 2006-2007 to 2012-2013. ISU is making its 14th appearance all-time in the WNIT and third under head coach Kristen Gillespie. The program is 15-9 overall in the WNIT since 2000. 

Murray State women's basketball is selected to play in the Women's National Invitational Tournament as announced by the league, today.
This is the Racers' fifth selection to the tournament and second time under Rechelle Turner. The seventh time they will compete in a postseason tournament.

The 48-team field was selected on Sunday, March 17, after the NCAA and WBIT schedules were released. The Postseason WNIT will have matchups, times and locations determined and its bracket ready for viewing later on Monday, March 18.

2024 is the 26th year that the WNIT has been held after it was launched in the spring of 1998.

From 1969-96, there was a postseason event for women's collegiate basketball and it was called the (NWIT) The National Women's Invitational Tournament. When the NWIT folded in 1996, the new WNIT as we know it today was launched in spring 1998.
Murray State's WNIT history began when the event was known as the NWIT. The Racers compete in the 1989 National Women's Invitation Tournament under Head Coach Bud Childers in Amarillo, Florida.

The Racers were knocked out of title contention in a 97-81 loss to San Diego State and then played the third-place game against Toledo where they lost in double overtime 107-104. MSU's two future hall of famers, Sheila Smith scored 26 points and Wenning added 19 points.

The UNI Panthers are one of four Missouri Valley Conference teams competing in the 2024 WNIT.  UNI received a bye in the first round and will compete against the winner of a round-one matchup featuring the Billikens of Saint Louis and the Sugar Bears of Central Arkansas.  That game will take place at UCA on Thursday, March 21.

Round two times, dates, and locations are yet to be determined.  Stay tuned to unipanthers.com and uni social media channels for updates to the schedule.