Belmont to Participate in 2023 Postseason WNIT

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For the 10th time in 11 seasons, the Belmont University women's basketball team will be playing in a national postseason tournament. The Bruins (23-11, 17-3 MVC) have earned an at-large bid to the 2023 Postseason WNIT and will face Ball State Thursday, March 16 at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Indiana. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

The 64-team bracket with first round matchups, locations and game times was released Monday afternoon after the postseason tournament field was announced Sunday night following NCAA Tournament selections.
 
Belmont is making its third WNIT appearance and first since 2014. The Bruins played in the last six NCAA Tournaments and were an automatic qualifier for both the 2014 and 2006 Postseason WNIT.

Belmont will be seeking its first WNIT win as the Bruins fell by a single point in both of its first two WNIT games. In their first-ever WNIT appearance in 2006, the Bruins were defeated 56-55 at Tennessee Tech. In its last WNIT appearance in 2014, Belmont dropped a 48-47 decision at the Big Ten Conference's Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana.

The Bruins are coming off their third consecutive conference tournament championship game appearance after reaching the Missouri Valley Conference title game this past Sunday. In its inaugural Hoops in the Heartland tournament in Moline, Illinois, last week, second-seeded Belmont defeated seventh-seeded Southern Illinois 70-64 in the quarterfinals before taking out third-seeded Northern Iowa 69-62 in the semifinals. Fourth-seeded Drake upset the Bruins 89-71 in the title game for the MVC's automatic bid to the Big Dance.

In its first year in one of the strongest conferences outside the Power Five, Belmont won its ninth regular season conference championship and sixth in seven seasons. The Bruins ended the regular season on a 14-game winning streak and held a 16-game winning streak, which was tied for the fifth-longest active winning streak in the nation, heading into championship Sunday.

Thursday will be the first-ever meeting between Belmont and Ball State.
 
The Cardinals went 25-8 and 14-4 in the Mid-American Conference, earning the No. 3 seed for the MAC Tournament. Last Friday, Ball State was bounced from the MAC Tournament in the semifinals, 70-61, by second-seeded Bowling Green.

The Cardinals will be making their 11th WNIT appearance and eighth under 11th-year head coach Brady Sallee. Ball State is 6-10 in WNIT games.

Powered by Triple Crown Sports and first held in 1998, this season is the 25th edition of the Postseason WNIT.
 
The 2023 Postseason WNIT field features 32 automatic qualifiers, which are teams that are the next-highest finishers in their conference's regular season that were not tabbed for the NCAA Tournament. The other 32 teams are at-large selections, chosen after consideration of a mix of criteria by WNIT officials.

Joining the Bruins from the MVC in the 64-team WNIT bracket is Illinois State, Missouri State and Northern Iowa.
 
The 2023 WNIT field features 35 teams that won at least 20 games and 17 teams that either won or tied for fist place in their conference's regular season.
 
In the 2022 Postseason WNIT championship game, South Dakota State topped Seton Hall, 82-50. Other recent title winners include Rice (2021), Arizona (2019), Indiana (2018) and Michigan in 2017, a game against Georgia Tech that went to triple overtime.
 
Second round WNIT games will take place Saturday-Tuesday, March 18-21. Super 16 games will be held Wednesday-Friday, March 22-24 and Great Eight games are scheduled for Saturday-Monday, March 25-27. The WNIT Fab Four will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, March 28-29. The 2023 WNIT title game is set for Saturday, April 1 at 4:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. ET. The championship game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. All games will be hosted at participating team campus sites.

Follow Belmont women's basketball on social media - @BelmontWBB on Twitter, @belmontwbb on Instagram and Belmont Women's Basketball on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.