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WBIT
Lamar University’s women’s basketball team will continue their season as they were selected as one of 32 teams to play in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament. The Cardinals will fly up to Pullman, Washington, to take on No. 1 seed Washington State of the PAC-12 on Thursday, March 21.
This is LU’s first postseason appearance since 2019 when the Cardinals took on South Alabama in the WNIT. The Cardinals earned this bid by winning the regular season Southland Conference title posting a 17-1 record to go along with their 24-6 overall record. This included a 14-game winning streak which stretched into the conference tournament semifinals against Texas A&M-Commerce. LU reached the conference championship game for the second straight season.
Washington State finished 18-14 and 7-11 in the PAC-12. WSU beat No. 2 UCLA 85-82 on Jan. 28, marking the highest-ranked opponent the program has ever defeated. Although senior and WSU's leadinger scorer Charlisse Leger-Walker suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of that game, the rest of the team held on to finish off the win, before ultimately finishing off the regular season strong with a 72-63 win over No. 13-ranked Colorado.
Should No. 8 seed LU win their matchup against the Cougars, they will take on either Santa Clara or BYU in the second round March 24.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+.