GREENSBORO - The
North Carolina A&T Aggies will open the 2013 Women's National Invitational
Tournament by facing James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va. on Thursday, March
21. The game time will be announced on
Tuesday.
The
2013 season marks the first since 1994 when the A&T men's and women's
basketball team each played in a national postseason tournament in the same
season. The A&T men's basketball team is the No. 16 seed in the NCAA
Tournament after winning their 16th MEAC Tournament Championship on
March 15.
The
Aggies (22-9, 13-3 MEAC) have never before faced the Dukes (22-10, 15-3 CAA) on
the court. By virtue of their
second-place finish in the MEAC, the Aggies earned one of the 31 automatic bids
to the tournament. It will be the
Aggies' third WNIT appearance in program history, after competing in the
tournament in 2008 and 2010. The Aggies
hold a 2-2 record in the WNIT entering into Thursday's contest.
A&T
head coach Tarrell Robinson will be making his fourth trip to the WNIT, and his
first as a head coach. He was an
assistant coach when A&T went in 2008, and was an associate head coach at
Virginia Commonwealth in their 2010 and 2012 WNIT appearances. His teams have gone 4-3 in the WNIT.
It
will be the second WNIT appearance for JaQuayla Berry, Nikia Gorham and guard
Amber Calvin, who were all freshmen when the Aggies posted a 2-1 record in the
2010 WNIT. The Aggies became the first
MEAC team and HBCU to win two consecutive basketball games in a national
postseason tournament with victories against Wake Forest and Charlotte in the
2010 WNIT. The Aggies fell to Miami in
the third round to exit the tournament.
First-round
action tips off on Wednesday, March 20 and concludes on Friday, March 22. Second-round games begin March 23-25, round
three March 27-29, quarterfinals March 30-April 1, and semifinals April 3-4.
The championship game will be played on Saturday, April 6 and will be televised
live and in HD at 3 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network. All games are hosted by
participating schools.
