Wednesday, May 23, 2007

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (May 23, 2007) - Coming off a stellar 20-win campaign and only its second postseason appearance in school history, the ETSU women's basketball team received great news Wednesday, as they were one of the 16 teams selected to participate in the 2007 Preseason WNIT, which was released by the tournament office.

The Lady Bucs will be one of nine teams making their first-ever Preseason WNIT appearance, joining Delaware State, IUPUI, LSU, Marshall, Michigan State, Princeton, Radford and Samford. Rounding out the other seven slots were: Delaware, Evansville, Maryland, Miami (Ohio), Notre Dame, TCU and Western Kentucky.

"To be invited to this tournament says a lot about our program," said head coach Karen Kemp. "I am extremely happy for our team, but also the student-athletes that have played here during the last few years, as they helped build a successful program, giving us the opportunity to play in such a tournament. This will give our team and program some more exposure as we will be one of the first teams to open up the 2007-08 college basketball season."

The tournament will be stacked with strong competition as nine teams are coming off postseason play, including LSU's Final Four finish in the NCAA Tournament.

Invitations are made based on expected team strength for the 2007-08 season, as well as past team history. Other factors include conference results, fan base and geographical location.

First-round pairings will be released next month. The 14^th annual Preseason WNIT begins Nov. 9.

Please visit http://www.womensnit.com/interest.htm for more information regarding the Preseason WNIT. Make sure to visit www.ETSUBucs.com for updated news and notes.