GoFrogs: TCU Heading to Women’s NIT

Complete Postseason WNIT Bracket 

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – TCU will host an opening round game of the 2016 Postseason Women’s NIT on Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. CT when the Horned Frogs face UT Rio Grande Valley in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. The complete bracket for the event was released on Monday evening by the Women’s NIT and Triple Crown Sports.

Tickets for the 2016 Postseason Women’s NIT are available through the TCU Ticket Office by calling 817-257-3764 or by visiting GoFrogs.com. Tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for youth and TCU students will be admitted for free. It is the first-ever postseason game played in the new arena that opened on Dec. 20, 2015.

TCU is appearing in the postseason for the 14th time in the last 16 seasons. The 14 appearances are tied for the third most in that time span among Big 12 programs, trailing only Baylor (16) and Oklahoma (16). It is the fifth time in program history that TCU will play in the Postseason Women’s NIT. Head coach Raegan Pebley is making her fourth career appearance in the Postseason Women’s NIT, including second consecutive.

TCU secured its first postseason win since the 2008 Postseason Women’s NIT last season with an 85-80 win over Stephen F. Austin. The close game against SFA last year continued a trend of close games in WNIT play. Six of TCU’s seven games played in the Postseason Women’s NIT have been decided by seven points or less, including the five point win over Stephen F. Austin and four point loss in overtime to Southern Miss last season.

TCU will face off against UT Rio Grande Valley for the second time this season as the Frogs won 71-67 on Nov. 28, 2015.

TCU is one of seven teams from the Big 12 Conference to earn postseason bids in 2016. TCU is the automatic qualifier from the Big 12 Conference for the Postseason Women’s NIT for the third consecutive season. TCU finished the season with a 16-14 record, including an 8-10 mark in Big 12 Conference play. TCU won at least eight games in Big 12 Conference play in each of the last three years and in three of the four years it has been a member of the Big 12 Conference. The Frogs faced one of the most demanding schedules in program history. TCU’s game with Texas on Feb. 27, 2016 was its 10th against a ranked foe in 2015-16, tying the TCU school record for most ranked foes faced in a season. TCU faced 10 ranked foes during the 2005-06 season. It faced nine ranked foes in 2012-13 and 2013-14. TCU has previously faced seven or more ranked foes in 1994-95, 2005-06, 2010-11, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Senior Zahna Medley will look to build on her many career accomplishments in the postseason. Medley is already the all-time TCU leader in career points and career three-point field goals. She averaged 16.2 points per game and hit 79 three-point field goals this season. She needs just two more three-point field goals to tie Jill Sutton’s 1997-98 mark of 81 three-point field goals, the most in a single season in TCU history.

The Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament is an annual event for women’s NCAA Division I basketball involving 64 women’s Division I basketball teams in a single elimination format. All WNIT games are played at the home facility or an acceptable alternate facility of participating schools.

The 2016 Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament features 64 teams in a single-elimination championship format. The tournament is in its 19th year. The Postseason WNIT began in 1998 with 16 teams playing for a postseason crown. The event has expanded four times, throughout which its mission has remained the same: To give deserving teams a quality opportunity to play exciting games for a postseason title. Following the inaugural year, the field doubled to 32 teams and remained there until 2006 when a further commitment was made to schools. The WNIT expanded to a 40-team field to give berths to teams that won their regular-season conference title but did not win their conference tournament and therefore were excluded from the NCAA Tournament. The WNIT furthered that commitment to conference schools again in 2007, when the event expanded to 48 teams and awarded an automatic berth to each conference. The number of at-large berths remained at 17 until 2010, when the WNIT felt that the level of women’s basketball warranted a 64-team field. Since then, the WNIT fulfills berths for 32 automatic teams and 32 teams selected at-large.