March 29, 2024

Three instate women’s teams headed to NCAA Tournament

Iowa falls short, will host WNIT game

Three of the four NCAA Division I women’s basketball programs in the state of Iowa headed to the NCAA tournament. The fourth will host a first-round game in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

The Drake Bulldogs won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Sunday and already knew they were headed to the Big Dance.

Iowa State and Northern Iowa were both given at-large berths, while Iowa was one of the first few teams not selected to the tournament but will host a WNIT team game on Thursday. The Hawkeyes went 2-1 against the instate schools, beating Iowa State by 12 and Northern Iowa by 49.

Iowa State (18-12) made a late charge to earn an at-large spot into the field. The ninth-seeded Cyclones will play No. 8 Syracuse at 12:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2. The winner will likely play top-ranked, top-seeded and defending national champion Connecticut, which has won more than 100 straight games. Both games will take place in Storrs, Connecticut.

Drake (28-4) defeated Northern Iowa (24-8) this season and has won 22 straight games but both the Bulldogs and Panthers were given 10 seeds.

Drake also will have to play at seventh seeded Kansas State (22-10) as second-seeded Stanford cannot host because of another event taking place in its arena. The Drake-Kansas State game tips off at 3 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2. The winner likely faces Stanford on Monday.

Northern Iowa heads to Starkville, Mississippi, to face seventh-seeded DePaul at 11 a.m. Friday on ESPN2. That victor likely plays second-seeded Mississippi State.

Iowa (17-13) lost five of its final eight games to play its way out of the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes host Missouri State (17-14) in the WNIT on Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The winner faces either South Dakota or North Dakota in the second round.

Iowa State will make its 17th NCAA Tournament and 10th in the last 11 seasons. Syracuse is led by guard Alexis Peterson, who is averaging 23.3 points and 7.1 points per game.

Five Bulldogs average in double-figures, led by senior Lizzy Wendell’s 21.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. This is Drake’s 11th tournament appearance but only its first since 2007. Kansas State is led by Kindred Wesemann (14 points per game) and Breanna Lewis (13.7 points, 8.3 rebounds per game).

The Panthers will play in their third NCAA tournament and the first since going back-to-back in 2010 and 2011.

DePaul (26-7) qualified for its 15th straight NCAA tournament. Five Blue Demons average in double-figures, led by Brooke Schulte’s 16.4 points and six rebounds per game.