A-State Women’s Basketball Team Selected for 2014 Preseason WNIT

JONESBORO, Ark. — The Arkansas State women’s basketball is one of 16 programs that has been selected to participate in the 2014 Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament, organization officials announced this week.

The tournament includes a three-game guarantee for all teams and the event opens Nov. 14-15 with round one at the host sites of the participating schools. The second round will be played Nov. 16-17 and the semifinals Nov. 19-20. The championship game is set for Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. central time and will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.

A-State has made two previous appearances in the preseason tournament with the most recent in 1998 where it fell to Florida in the opening round. The Red Wolves also participated in the inaugural Preseason WNIT tournament (known as the NWIT at the time) in 1994 and advanced into the second round.

Arkansas State is coming off a WNIT Postseason Tournament berth and one of the best seasons in school history. The Red Wolves finished 2013-14 with a 22-12 overall record, a 14-4 mark in the Sun Belt Conference and its first-ever outright regular-season league championship.

Nine of the 16 teams in the tournament are coming off postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournament teams. The field features Albany, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Colorado, Eastern Kentucky, Jackson State, Mercer, Mississippi State, North Dakota, Penn State, Rider, Seton Hall, St. Francis Brooklyn, Towson, West Virginia, and Western Kentucky.

Teams that lose in the first two rounds will play consolation games on Nov. 21-22 and participating schools host all games.  The official tournament bracket with first-round opponents, game dates, and times will be announced in June.

The Preseason WNIT began in its modern form in 1994.  Since its inception, over 200 teams representing all 32 conferences have competed in the tournament. It is organized and produced by Triple Crown Sports, a national sports event company based in Fort Collins, Colo.