The Boise State (24-8) women’s basketball team will face the #14/13 George Washington Colonials (26-3) of the Atlantic 10 Conference in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The Nevada women's basketball team earned its first-ever postseason bid . Nevada will take on Wyoming in Laramie on Thursday, March 15.
2007 Women's NCAA Bracket
2007 WNIT Bracket
The Broncos are scheduled to start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game which tips-off at 11:00 a.m. (pacific) in Los Angeles, California at the Galen Center on the University Southern California campus. Tickets go on sale Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Boise State Athletic Ticket Office, they are $20 dollars apiece for the Boise State session only.
The Broncos, champions of the Western Athletic Conference, enter the tournament as a No. 12 seed in the Dallas bracket. Boise State has won five straight games and have set a school record for wins in a season with 24. This is the second appearance for Boise State in the NCAA Tournament all-time. The first time was in 1994 as an at-large bid out of the Big Sky Conference. That year they lost in the first round at the University of Washington by the score of 89-61.
The Broncos are led by two All-WAC performers in Jessica Thompson and Michelle Hessing. Thompson a sophomore two-guard is the leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, ranking sixth in the WAC. She was named to the WAC’s all-conference first team, and to last week’s WAC championship all-tournament team, as well as, the event’s MVP. Meanwhile, Hessing was a All-WAC Second Team honoree. She is second in scoring and rebounding at 11.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore point guard Tasha Harris averages 10.6 points per game and was a major factor in last week’s WAC Tournament competition earning her recognition on the all-tournament team. The trio helped lead the Broncos to the Western Athletic Conference regular season co-championship and the WAC Tournament title last weekend in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The Broncos opponent on Saturday is George Washington. They enter the tournament ranked #14 and 13 in the nation. They are currently 26-3 overall and were awarded a five-seed in the Dallas Bracket. GW, which is making its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 14th overall, is 14-13 in 27 tourney games. The Colonials are 11-2 in first-round games, including an 87-72 victory at 10th-seeded Old Dominion last March.
Joining Boise State and George Washington in the Los Angeles sub-regional is fourth-seeded Texas A&M and 13th-seeded Texas-Arlington. The winner of the GW-Boise State game will meet the winner of the Texas A&M-Texas-Arlington game in the second round on Monday in Los Angeles. Boise State has never played GW or Texas A&M before, however, they are 0-1 against UT-Arlington. The Broncos are 1-3 against current members of the Atlantic-10 Conference, 0-4 against the Big 12 Conference, and 0-3 against the members of the Southland Conference.
Nevada's first-round opponent, along with the location and date of the game, will be released by the WNIT later tonight. The Wolf Pack, which finished the season with a 17-14 record, will not host a first-round game.
The WNIT expanded its field to 48 teams this year and, as part of the expansion, is giving an automatic bid to each Division I conference in the country. Louisiana Tech declined the invitation and Nevada, which finished third in the WAC standings, accepted on Monday.
This marks the first postseason appearance for Nevada, which finished 17-14 and in third place in the Western Athletic Conference.
The time of Thursday's game in Laramie has not been determined.
The game is a rematch of an 80-71 Wyoming win when the teams met on Nov. 25 at the Coors Classic hosted by Colorado. Traci Graham and Dellena Criner each scored 15 points in that game while Jessica Preslar added 10 points.
Wyoming was 21-9 this year and lost in the Mountain West Conference semifinals. The winner of the Nevada-Wyoming game will meet Missouri. The WNIT expanded its field to 48 teams this year and, as part of the expansion, is giving an automatic bid to each Division I conference in the country. Louisiana Tech declined the invitation and Nevada, which finished third in the WAC standings, accepted on Monday.