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Lady Dons Accept Preseason WNIT Bid
2002 WNIT Bracket in PDF Format June 26, 2002 The USF Lady Dons women's basketball team, who participated in last season's postseason WNIT, has accepted a berth in the 16 team preseason tournament that begins November 15th. "We are proud to participate in the preseason WNIT," said head coach Mary Hile-Nepfel. "The tournament has a great tradition and will provide us with a challenging start to our schedule. Our team is looking to build on making the postseason last year and playing at Colorado State in the first round will certainly keep us focused in preseason practice." Coach Nepfel will be matched up against a very familiar foe in former Santa Clara coach Chris Denker. It will be the Lady Dons second preseason WNIT appearance, having hosted Arizona in 1996. The 16-team field for the 2002 Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament was announced today (June 26). The field includes teams expected to be ranked in the Top 25 such as Kansas State, Penn State, Colorado State and Mississippi State. All games will be played on home campuses, which are determined after each round. The tournament opens Friday, Nov. 15, with second-round games on Nov. 17, semifinals on Nov. 20, and the championship on Nov. 24. The event features 12 teams who played in the postseason last season: Kansas State, Colorado State, Penn State, Mississippi State, Syracuse, Bucknell, Ball State, Georgia Tech, San Francisco, Southern Cal, Siena and Southwest Missouri State. In last year's tournament, top-ranked University of Connecticut began its undefeated season by winning the Preseason WNIT title with a victory over No.3 Vanderbilt. Here are this year's pairings. Visit www.womensnit.com for a bracket and history of the event.
First-round games:
Ball State at Kansas State
North Carolina-Charlotte at Georgia Tech
San Francisco at Colorado State
Northern Arizona at Southern Cal
Bucknell at Penn State
Syracuse at Siena
South Alabama at Mississippi State
Tulsa at Southwest Missouri State
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