Women's Basketball No. 3 Seed in NCAA Tournament
3/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 17, 2008
WACO, Texas - Baylor's women's basketball team, the No. 3 seed in the Spokane Regional, will face 14th-seeded Fresno State (20-10) on Saturday, March 22 in The Pit at Albuquerque, N.M., the NCAA announced tonight. Joining Baylor and Fresno State in first round action are sixth-seeded Pittsburgh (22-10) and Wyoming (24-6), a No. 11 selection.
The game will be televised on ESPN2 and will begin at noon (Mountain).
Baylor is 24-6 on the season and ranked No. 12 in the AP Poll. The Lady Bears will be appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year and seventh time in the last eight years while Fresno State will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in the school's 43 year history. The Bulldogs, winners of 20 of their last 22 games, earned an automatic bid after beating New Mexico State in the championship game of the WAC Tournament.
First round winners will face off in second round action on Monday, March 24 and the winner of that game will advance to Spokane, Wash., to play either Stanford, Cleveland State, UTEP or Western Kentucky on Saturday, March 29.
The 2008 Women's Final Four will be played April 6 and 8 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.
"We were so excited and loud that I did not hear anything said about Baylor after the announcement! I know that Fresno State is in the WAC and I don't know anymore about them. It would be premature for me to tell you what their strengths and weaknesses are," said head coach Kim Mulkey.
"I feel like Albuquerque has become our second home in the NCAA Playoffs. Maryland beat us there but we also made it to our first Sweet Sixteen there too. We have had success in Albuquerque. A little altitude to deal with but they draw great, The Pit is loud, the fans will come out and support women's basketball."
"As far as our seeding goes, I thought that we were rewarded for what we have done all year. I thought some teams were rewarded for what they did late in the year and not all year. But we were certainly not penalized in any way because of the three losses. The Big 12 is the number one RPI conference in the country and we were playing three teams that were pretty darn good."
Those wishing to purchase tickets to the games in Albuquerque may contact the Baylor Athletic Ticket Office after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 18 at 254-710-1000 or 1-800-BAYLORU.
