University Southern California Trojans
USC Women Move Into WNIT Action
March 14, 2011 | Women's Basketball
March 14, 2011
2011 WNIT Bracket in PDF Format
The USC women's basketball team is lined up for postseason play in the 2011 Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Trojans are making their third appearance in the postseason WNIT and first since 2002, as USC takes a 19-12 overall record into the tourney after missing a spot in this year's NCAA Tournament.
Despite the rare visit to WNIT action, USC will have a familiar first step in the tournament with WNIT First Round action set for the Galen Center, where the Trojans have played their past four games. USC will host round one against UC Santa Barbara (19-11) on Thursday (March 17) at 7 p.m.
The winner of the USC-UC Santa Barbara clash has a date with either St. Mary's (Calif.) or Nevada in the WNIT Second Round, slated for March 19-21 at a site to be determined.
USC had held an RPI of 44 and boasted the 25th toughest schedule in the nation, but still came up short of NCAA action after taking three losses in its last six games, including two to Arizona, which also did not get a spot in the NCAA tournament. USC had wins over three teams picked for NCAA play -- conference champions Fresno State, Georgia and Gonzaga -- and lost to tournament teams Arizona State, Duke, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and Xavier. USC's only losses to non-NCAA tournament teams came to Arizona and California.
USC has made two previous appearances (2000 and 2002) in the WNIT for a 2-2 all-time record in the postseason tournament. On the road for all four games, USC beat Santa Clara 71-64 and lost to Colorado State 66-56 in 2000, and beat San Francisco 72-53 before falling to Washington 97-87 in 2002.
The WNIT is a 64-team tournament with 31 automatic berths -- one from each conference -- and 33 at-large teams. For more information, visit www.womensnit.com.
