The University of Maine women’s basketball team will take on Villanova at 7 p.m. Friday in a first-round game in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament on the Villanova campus in Philadelphia.
The matchup was announced late Monday night and the game time was set on Tuesday.
A total of 64 teams make up the WNIT field, including 32 automatic bids and 32 at-large selections.
This will be the third all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Black Bears. Villanova won the first meeting in December 1990, while Maine won in December 1995.
Coach Richard Barron’s Black Bears (23-7), ranked No. 95 in the NCAA Rating Percentage Index, were the regular-season champions of the America East Conference. Villanova of the Big East Conference (76 RPI) was 19-13 this season, including 9-2 on its home court.
The third-seeded Wildcats lost to No. 2 DePaul in the Big East tournament semifinals.