WBB: Selection Sunday recap
GCU and Tarleton State know what tournaments they'll be playing in next week...Who joins them?
Selection Sunday.
It’s the reward for a season well done, whether or not you’re playing in the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament, WBIT, WNIT, or Women’s Basketball Invitational.
For the first time in program history GCU’s women’s basketball team heard their names called as an NCAA tournament team, although as regular season champion they also had the WBIT’s automatic bid if UT Arlington had beaten them on Saturday.
With two power conference victories, a win against the field in CUSA tournament champion Liberty by 29 points on November 27, and the nation’s longest winning streak (currently at 30 wins) the Lopes were given a No. 13 seed. They’ll open play on Friday in Waco, Texas against No. 4 seed Baylor, a representative of the Big 12 conference.
Both teams played Utah Tech, Arizona, Arizona State, and Oregon for reference.
Baylor: Oregon 11/10/24 lost 76-74, East Texas A&M 11/17/24 won 65-42, Utah Tech 12/18/24 won 97-34, Arizona 1/8/25 won 81-76 in OT, Arizona St 1/11/25 won 78-59
5-0, 1-0 OT, 2-0 games decided by 10 points or less
GCU: Arizona State 11/14/24 won 70-59, Oregon 11/18/24 lost 70-54, East Texas A&M 11/30/24 won 110-71, Arizona 12/5/24 won 69-66, Utah Tech x2 1/25/25 won 78-43 & 3/6/25 won 74-42
5-1, 1-0 games decided by 10 points or less
As the WAC’s regular season runner-up Tarleton State knew that they’d have a spot no matter where their tournament ended in Las Vegas with a WNIT automatic bid.
WNIT criteria give their automatic bid to the highest finishing team in a conference’s regular season standings not selected for NCAA or WBIT play.
Bill Brock’s team finished with 20 wins (18 against Division I competition) which included a win over SunBelt Conference tournament champion Arkansas State just before Christmas. Their reward is a first round WNIT bye. The Texans will play either Lindenwood or Tulsa in second round play at a site to be determined between March 23-25 (this Sunday-Tuesday). Their last national postseason tournament appearance was in 2018-19, while a Division II program competing in the Lone Star Conference.
Lindenwood is the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and regular season runner-up after being picked to finish seventh by their preseason poll. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are an at-large selection from the American Athletic Conference after finishing in fifth place but falling in a tournament second round game.
Abilene Christian, Utah Valley and UT Arlington all had to wait until late Sunday evening to find out their fates despite excellent regular seasons. Just before the seven o’clock hour Pacific Time, WNIT operators Triple Crown released their field of 48…with all three teams hoping for at large bids in.
That makes a total of five teams playing postseason basketball, with four in the WNIT. The WAC hasn’t had multiple WNIT bids since 2022 with both GCU and CBU making it.
Abilene Christian and UT Arlington were selected to host opening round games this week while Utah Valley will be on the road.
The Wildcats will host former Southland Conference foe Northwestern State, who finished T4 in regular-season play at 12-8 and won a game in the Southland Tournament before losing to UIW in quarterfinal action.
Northwestern State lost their lone regular season game against a WAC foe in mid November against Tarleton State 73-56. The Texans led by seven after three quarters but used a 28-18 fourth quarter to pull away for a win. Mya Blake and Vernell Atamah combined to score 41 of the Demons’ 56 points that night on 14-29 field goal shooting (7-11 on 3-pointers).
They’ll be asked to keep up with an ACU offense that has five very capable scorers in Bella Earle, Payton Hull, Meredith Mayes, Emma Troxell, and Erin Woodson. Hull will be making her second appearance since getting injured in a January 16 loss at Moody Coliseum against GCU. She had 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists in the Wildcats WAC tournament loss against Utah Valley. ACU is making their first appearance in a national postseason tournament since 2021, when they qualified for the WBI in their final year as a Southland Conference program.
Both sides lost their combined three games against Stephen F. Austin, the Southland Tournament champion, by a combined three possessions. In that mid-November game at Moody Coliseum the Wildcats led by 12 at intermission before falling.
UT Arlington will host UIW, who also finished in that fourth-place tie during regular season play, falling in the tournament semifinals. A year ago Shereka Wright’s team had a spot in the WBI after losing to CBU in a WAC tournament semifinal, but tournament operators Sport Tours International had to cancel that event after they were unable to fill an eight-team bracket. UT Arlington last reached national postseason tournament play in 2022, representing the SunBelt Conference and narrowly losing to Iowa State in NCAA tournament play.
The Lady Mavs have a win over Houston this year and gave GCU their second toughest game of this 30 game winning streak in a three point loss on Saturday in WAC championship game action.
Utah Valley will visit Air Force in a rematch of a regular-season game where the Wolverines trailed by as many as 21 points and cut their deficit to eight before falling by 18. Dan Nielson’s team makes their second national postseason tournament in the last five years. They were the WAC’s NCAA tournament representative in 2021 ,when a transitioning CBU won both titles while reclassifying from Division II to Division I, with a second place regular season finish.
