Kats earn WNIT bid

HUNTSVILLE - Sam Houston women's basketball is headed to the postseason for the first time since 2013 after earning a bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament per a release from Triple Crown Sports on Sunday evening.

The Bearkats will travel to Portland, Ore. to face Portland on Thursday in the first round. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT with the winner of the game moving on to face the Lamar Cardinals at a date, time and location to be determined. Broadcast info for Thursday's contest is also still to be determined.

The 48-team tournament begins on Thursday, March 19 with the first round running through March 21. Second round games follow from March 22-24, followed by the Super 16 from March 25-27 and the Great 8 March 28-30. The Fab 4 will be played March 31 and April 1 followed by the championship on April 4. All games are played at selected host sites.

This marks just the second WNIT appearance in program history. The Bearkats previously earned an at-large bid during the 2012-13 season after finishing as co-champions of the Southland Conference with an 18-15 record. Sam Houston fell 65-57 to Tulane in the opening round.

Sam Houston finished tied for third in Conference USA this season, posting an 18-12 overall record and going 11-7 in conference play. The Bearkats were eliminated in the conference tournament quarterfinals after an 89-57 loss to Liberty.

Picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, Ravon Justice's squad exceeded expectations and earned the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, the program's highest seed since joining Conference USA. The Bearkats also will be looking to add onto their best season since the 2019-20 campaign when they went 19-10.

Fanta Kone highlighted the season by earning Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors. She was also named to the All-Conference First team, All-Defensive team and All-Academic team. Deborah Ogayemi added All-Conference Second Team honors after being selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team before the start of the season.

Portland, meanwhile, is making its 14th all-time trip to the postseason and fourth trip to the WNIT, last doing so in 2022. The Pilots enter the game with an 18-14 overall record and 11-7 mark in the WCC. They went two rounds deep in the WCC Tournament last week, defeating Washington State before being eliminated by Oregon State in the quarterfinals.

Players Mentioned

Fanta Kone

Deborah Ogayemi

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