Davidson’s women’s basketball team will play Old Dominion Thursday, March 21, in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The field for the WNIT was announced late Monday.

The Wildcats, with an overall record of 21-12, will meet the Lady Monarchs (19-11) at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. The game time will be set Tuesday.

For ticket information, please contact ODU’s ticket office at 757-683-4444. The winner will face either Charlotte or Appalachian State in the second round, March 23-25.

Davidson, which also participated in the Preseason WNIT this year, earned the Southern Conference’s automatic bid into the Women’s NIT after finishing second with a 16-4 record. This is the Wildcats’ third trip to the tournament, and second in as many years.

Davidson reached the finals of the Southern Conference tournament two weekends ago, losing a heartbreaker to Chattanooga in the final seconds, 64-63.

Two-time SoCon Player of the Year Sophia Aleksandravicius (16.1 ppg / SoCon-best 10 rpg) and two-time All-SoCon First Team member (coaches) Laura Murray (12.6 ppg) were each named to the SoCon All-Tournament First Team.

In last year’s WNIT game, the Wildcats traveled to James Madison. They held a one-point advantage in the second half, but JMU used a 19-7 run midway through the half to take control and went on for 64-49 victory.

Old Dominion finished its season at 19-11 overall, 10-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association. It dropped its final two games of the season at James Madison and at Northeastern.

The Lady Monarchs, who are coached by former Elon Phoenix head coach Karen Barefoot, are led by Shae Kelley (13.2 ppg / 8.5 rpg), who was named to the All-CAA Second Team and to the All-Defensive Team, and senior guard Jackie Cook (team-best 13.8 ppg), who earned third-team All-CAA honors.

The 64-team WNIT field features 31 teams that earned an automatic berth, and 33 teams that were chosen as an at-large. First-round play is Wednesday through Friday, March 20-22.

The event culminates Saturday, April 6 with the championship game, which will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network. All games are hosted by participating schools.

BRACKET

Download the Women’s NIT bracket (PDF).

Women’s NIT website, www.womensnit.com

Read more about the Davidson team and its season, DavidsonWildcats.com.

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