JOURNAL SPORTS
HOUSTON – It’s not the Big Dance but it’s a chance to play postseason basketball, and two regular-season champions upset in their conference tournament finals last weekend will square off tonight trying to get some satisfaction in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
Louisiana Tech, the Conference USA champion, visits Tudor Fieldhouse to face American Athletic Conference winner Rice in a first-round WBIT matchup.
Regular-season champions that don’t win their leagues’ automatic NCAA Tournament berths with conference tournament titles, and are bypassed for an NCAA at-large invitation, get automatic berths in the WBIT, which is administered by the NCAA.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on ESPN+.
Louisiana Tech (26-6) enters the postseason after a 17-1 run through Conference USA play, winning 19 consecutive games during the year — its longest streak in more than two decades. The Lady Techsters were stunned by a 43-38 loss to sixth-seeded Missouri State in the conference tournament championship.
Paris Bradley and Joy Madison-Key were named to the Conference USA All-Tournament Team. Bradley averaged 17.7 points on 54.1 percent shooting during the tournament, including 59.1 percent from 3-point range, while also recording 14 rebounds and five steals. Madison-Key led the tournament with 16 assists, including nine in a semifinal win over Delaware.
Louisiana Tech is making its first appearance in the WBIT and its 38th postseason appearance overall, including 27 NCAA Tournament berths. The Techsters managed to score only 12 points after halftime in the Missouri State loss.
The Lady Techsters lead Conference USA in scoring (73.2 points per game), scoring defense (58.3), scoring margin (14.8), field goal percentage (44.3) and assists (16.1). During the conference tournament, Louisiana Tech held opponents to 44.6 points per game — nearly 14 points below its season average allowed.
Rice (28-5) enters under similar circumstances after finishing 17-1 in American Athletic Conference play and reaching its conference tournament championship game. The Owls fell to UTSA 54-40 in the title game, shooting 27.1 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from beyond the arc.
The Owls rank among the top teams in the AAC on both ends of the floor, finishing fourth in scoring offense (70.0) and second in scoring defense (59.5).
Rice leads the nation in free throw shooting at 81.6 percent, with six players converting better than 80 percent from the line.