BYU women in WNIT, host Idaho State Wednesday

PROVO, Utah -- With a 21-10 record, BYU women’s basketball has been invited to participate in the 64-team single-elimination 2013 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). In their seventh appearance in the tournament, the Cougars will host Idaho State (18-12) Wednesday at 7 p.m. MDT.

"I'm glad that our team has the opportunity to play in a postseason tournament and that we get a game at home in front of our fans," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "Idaho State is a very good team, they have a great coach and are a very disciplined team."

In the WNIT, the Cougars have compiled an 8-6 overall record in six appearances. The team’s last appearance in the WNIT was during the 2010-11 campaign when BYU advanced to the third round with wins over Denver and Utah State before falling to runner-up USC.

BYU along with San Diego and Saint Mary’s are the three teams from the West Coast Conference that received invitations to play in this year’s WNIT. The Toreros were one of 31 automatic qualifiers while the Cougars and the Gaels received at-large berths. In this year’s field, BYU has played six of the 64 teams competing and has a 6-2 record against them.

Junior center Jennifer Hamson leads the team in scoring and rebounding averaging 10.6 points and pulling down 8.2 boards per game. Haley Steed, who ranks second nationally in assists, dishes out 7.4 assists per contest while contributing 10.3 points. Under head coach Jeff Judkins, the women’s basketball program has participated in four postseason WNIT tourneys and five NCAA tournaments.

Idaho State finished the 2012-13 regular season with an 18-12 overall record including a 13-7 mark in the Big Sky Conference for a fourth-place tie with Sacramento State.  ISU is making its second-straight postseason appearance and its fourth in the WNIT. Last year Idaho State played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Bengals are coming off a 73-60 loss to Sacramento State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament. BYU leads the series with ISU 11-3. The last time the two teams met was during the 2006-07 campaign when both programs were selected to play in the Preseason WNIT. In that matchup, played on Nov. 10 in Provo, the Cougars defeated the Bengals 73-50 and advanced to the final four of the preseason tourney.

Tickets

Courtside: $20

Adult GA: $6

Student GA: $5 (elementary through college)

All-Sport Pass Holder: Free

All tickets may be ordered at the Marriott Center Ticket Office, by calling 1-800-322-BYU1 or through byutickets.com.

Following

The game will air live on BYUtv, with Robbie Bullough and Kristen Kozlowski calling the game. BYUtv is on channel 9403 on Dish Network and channel 374 on Directv. Contact your cable provider for cable information.

About the 2013 WNIT 

The Women’s National Invitation Tournament consists of 64 Division I women’s basketball teams who compete at participating schools including the semifinals and the championships. Every round is single elimination. This year's field features 36 teams with 20 or more wins.

First-round action tips off on Wednesday, March 20 and concludes on Friday, March 22.  Second-round games begin March 23-25, round three March 27-29, quarterfinals March 30-April 1, and semifinals April 3-4. The championship game will be played on Saturday, April 6 and will be televised live and in HD at 3 p.m. EDT on CBS Sports Network. All games are hosted by participating schools.