Bona joins Canisius in the WNIT field
Griffs at Syracuse; Bonnies draw bye
The season continues for both the Canisius and St. Bonaventure women’s basketball teams as both earned bids to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
The Golden Griffins will play at Syracuse at 7 p. m. Wednesday while the Bonnies received a first-round bye and will host the winner of the first-round game between Coppin State and West Virginia on Saturday.
It is the first time in the Division I era that two Big 4 women’s teams earned postseason tournament berths.
The Bonnies earned the at-large bid and bye in the first round on the strength of their RPI — 67 — and their 21-10 season. St. Bonaventure finished seventh in the Atlantic 10 regular- season standings, losing to Temple in the A-10 tourney quarterfinals.
“We were hopeful for that but it was so new to us, we didn’t know what would happen,” Bona coach Jim Crowley said. “Looking at the numbers and our body of work we felt it was a possibility, but you never know until you see it. And when you see it, that’s when you get excited.”
This will be the first postseason appearance for the Bonnies in their Division-I era.
The Atlantic 10 placed five teams in the WNIT field. Richmond took the league’s automatic bid while Dayton, Duquesne and George Washington joined the Bonnies.
Charlotte, which won the A- 10 Tournament, earned the automatic NCAA bid while Xavier and Temple received at-large NCAA bids.
That gave the A-10 eight teams in the postseason.
Meanwhile, this will be the second postseason appearance for the Golden Griffins, who went the NCAA Tournament in 2005.
Canisius took the automatic bid to the WNIT from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after finishing second in the regular season. The Griffs advanced to the conference championship game, losing to four-time winner Marist, which drew Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Griffs are 24-8 overall, setting the Canisius women’s record for wins in its Division I era.
“Obviously playing in the postseason is huge and Syracuse is a great team in a great conference,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “We scrimmaged them early in the year so we know a little about them.
“It’s so hard to practice for so long without any agenda other than to get better. Now we’ve got something to shoot for.”
The winner of the Canisius-Syracuse game will play at Bowling Green.
The WNIT field contains 31 automatic bids — one for each conference going to the best team, based on regular- season standings, not selected for the NCAA Tournament. There are 16 first-round byes.
All games in the WNIT are hosted on campus sites. First-round games run Wednesday and Thursday.
The semifinals will be held April 1-2 with the WNIT championship scheduled for April 4.
In last year’s WNIT championship game, Marquette defeated Michigan State.
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