The University of Maine women’s basketball team was back in “The Pit” on Monday afternoon, preparing for another game.
For the second straight year, the Black Bears’ season will culminate with the Women’s National Invitation Tournament and they learned late Monday night that the opponent will be Quinnipiac.
UMaine (26-8), which earned the America East Conference automatic bid, will visit Quinnipiac (24-8), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference auto qualifier, on Friday in Hamden, Connecticut. The time will be announced Tuesday.
UMaine and Quinnipiac, ranked Nos. 60 and 87, respectively, in the NCAA Rating Percentage Index, will meet for the third time in history. The Bobcats won in 2007 and 2009.
The winner advances to face the survivor of the Temple-Drexel matchup. That could put UMaine in position to host a second-round contest as Temple is 69th in the RPI and host Drexel is 80th.
Coach Richard Barron’s UMaine squad (26-8) is refocusing after a tough 59-58 loss at Albany in the America East championship game last Friday.
“Of course we’re disappointed, it wasn’t what we wanted. It wasn’t our first choice,” senior forward Mikaela Gustafsson said of playing in the WNIT. “It’s still a prestigious tournament, and we’re happy that we’re in it.”
Like the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, the WNIT is a 64-team, single-elimination event. However, it is held on the home courts of the highest seeds that submitted bids to host the games.
First-round games will be played March 16-18 and early-round games are regionalized as much as possible in order to minimize missed class time and travel costs.
UMaine athletics director Karlton Creech said UMaine submitted a bid to host WNIT games.
“We’re excited about it. It gives the student-athletes an opportunity to extend their season and our fans get to watch this team and this senior class a little more, so it’s all positive,” Creech said.
The Black Bears’ prospects of playing a first-round contest at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor were probably hampered in part because the facility is only available on Wednesday. The Bangor Boat Show runs Friday through Sunday and will be setting up on Thursday.
“It we play home or away, it doesn’t matter,” Gustafsson said. “It’ll be fun, and we’re excited about it.”
Creech said if UMaine was to win a first-round road game, it would still be possible for the Black Bears to host a game in a subsequent round. According to the WNIT website, the required first-round bid is $6,500, and the figure increases to $7,500 for the second round.
“It’s something that we are very comfortable that we can cover with ticket sales and other things,” Creech said.
The WNIT, initiated in 1998, provides an automatic berth to a representative of each of the 32 Division I conferences. They go to the teams not selected for the NCAA tournament that finished highest in the regular-season standings.
The remaining 32 at-large berths are filled with the best teams available, that have a record of .500 or better including conference tournament games.
Top teams in the field include No. 37 RPI Texas El Paso (Conference USA), No. 38 Western Kentucky (C-USA) and No. 43 Arkansas State (Sun Belt). UMaine 2015-2016 opponents Minnesota, Harvard and Dayton also are playing in the WNIT.
Other qualifiers from the Northeast include Rutgers of the Big Ten, Villanova (Big East), Temple (American), Hofstra (Colonial Athletic Association), Drexel (CAA), Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference), Harvard (Ivy League) and Bucknell (Patriot League).
This year’s tournament features six teams from the Big Ten, five from the Mid-American Conference and four each from the ACC, C-USA and West Coast Conference. Four conferences each placed three teams – American, A-10, Big East and Colonial.
Last season, UMaine’s appearance in the WNIT was brief as the Black Bears dropped a 71-60 decision at Villanova.
UMaine is making its fifth WNIT appearance, having also played in 1990, 2003, 2005 and 2015. The Black Bears’ only victory came in 1990 against Wyoming (68-48).
The WNIT championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, April 2, and will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.