An at-large berth into the Women’s National Invitational Tournament will give the Long Beach State women’s basketball team a chance to salvage its disappointing early exit from the Big West tournament.
LBSU (9-9 Big West, 16-15 overall) will host Utah (8-10 Pac-12, 18-13 overall) in the first round of the WNIT on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid, after getting eliminated in the first-round of the Big West Tournament by Cal State Fullerton last week.
“It’s an honor and absolute thrill to play in the postseason,” head coach Jody Wynn said. “We are thankful for the opportunity to play in the WNIT. It will be a terrific experience for our young team, and we are looking forward to taking the court together again.”
This will be the 49ers’ first WNIT appearance since 2000, when they beat New Mexico and St. Mary’s en route to the third round. Their run ended there when they suffered a heartbreaking 65-63 loss to Colorado State.
The chance to play in the WNIT also gives the 49ers a chance to redeem themselves after losing to Cal State Fullerton in the first-round game of the Big West Tournament, where expectations were high after The Beach made a surprising run to the final as a seventh seed last year.
Sophomore center Devin Hudson will lead the way for the ‘Niners after setting a Big West Tournament record with 24 rebounds in the loss to CSUF. Senior Mary Ochiltree will also get her last chance to extend her career at The Beach.
The 49ers played well against Pac-12 opponents this season, with wins over Washington and Utah while losing to then No. 1 Stanford.
Utah played Arizona (whom the ‘Niners beat 71-61 earlier this season) three times this year. The Runnin’ Utes dropped both regular season games to the Wildcats but managed to get past them in the first-round game of the Pac-12 tournament, where they were eliminated by UCLA in the second round.
Utah is averaging 59.7 points per game on a 41 percent field goal percentage this season, which is comparable to LBSU’s 60.4 points per game on a 38 percent field goal shooting. The Utes hold the advantage defensively, however, allowing only 54.7 points in comparison to the 49ers’ 60.5.
Junior forwards Michelle Plouffe and Taryn Wicijowski form a potent tandem for Utah as they combine for more than half of their team’s scoring average with 16.7 and 14.2 points per game, respectively. Plouffe also leads the team in rebounding with 8.5 boards per game, followed by Wicijowski’s 6.8.
Complementing the front court duo is senior shooting guard Iwalani Rodrigues, who averages 12.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The 49ers and Utes last met in 2007, when Utah cruised to a 74-46 victory. The Utes are also ahead 3-2 in their all-time series against The Beach. They’ve played at the WNIT six times and won their Round 1 games in each of their last three appearances.
“This is an exciting time of the year,” Utah head coach Anthony Levrets told Utah athletics. “It’s fun to be playing in March. We will get ready to play a Long Beach team that is playing really well.”
If the 49ers beat Utah, they will face the winner of the San Diego-Hawaii game in Round 2 this weekend.