The Wisconsin women's basketball team (19-12) has earned its third bid in program history to compete in the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) with a first round bye. The Badgers will host round two of the tournament at the Kohl Center Sunday at 4:30 p.m., playing the winner of Arkansas State and Murray State, which will be decided tonight on Arkansas State's home court.
Arkansas State (20-12) has the sixth-best record in the Sun Belt Conference and has only lost two games at home this season. Adrianne Davie leads the Lady Indians in scoring with an average of 20.9 points per game and has a team-high 272 total rebounds. Classmate Rudy Sims also has posted impressive numbers from the guard position, averaging 15.8 points per contest. Sims leads her team on defense as well, collecting 69 steals on the season.
Even though Arkansas State has an impressive record at home, Murray State (21-9) will be a tough team to hold off. The Lady Racers are led by center/forward Joni Scott, who was the first player in Murray State history to be named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year. Scott led the OVC in scoring, averaging 21.7 points per game and shooting 58.4 percent from the field on the season. Sophomore guard Amber Guffey has also displayed bursts of energy on offense so far this season, posing a threat from beyond the 3-point arc. Guffey has great court-sense, finishing conference play ranked second in assists in the OVC, and was awarded All-OVC second team honors.
Wisconsin, under the leadership of junior guards Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks, has proven to be a very talented young team and has only lost three times at the Kohl Center, all coming to respectable teams in the competitive Big Ten Conference. Although the Badgers may be a tough team to beat, they will also have a challenging road to the WNIT finals.
Since Arkansas State and Murray State are both strong in the post, Wisconsin will depend on solid defense by post players Danielle Ward, Caitlin Gibson and Mariah Dunham, as well as dependable help coming from the bench, regardless of which competitor will be challenging the Badgers Sunday afternoon.
In its last two WNIT appearances, Wisconsin has made it to the championship game. In the 1998-'99 season, UW played Arkansas in the title game held in Fayetteville, Ark. losing by a mere three points, 67-64. The following year, Wisconsin again made it to the final, this time taking the crown by defeating Florida 75-74 in front of 13,006 fans at the Kohl Center. The Badgers hosted all five rounds of the 1999-2000 tournament, which consisted of 32 competitive teams.
Wisconsin could possibly host each round of this year's tournament at the Kohl Center; however, the site of each game is determined on a game-to-game basis. In addition, there is one other major difference this year from Wisconsin's past WNIT appearances: There are 48 teams fighting for the championship trophy.
For the first time in WNIT history, all 31 conferences will be represented in the tournament, and the expansion to 48 teams was done to accommodate berth for each of the conferences. Alongside Wisconsin, three other Big Ten schools have been invited to participate in the tournament. Minnesota beat Illinois-Chicago 97-54 Wednesday night and both Illinois and Indiana earned first-round byes.
