Marshall University Athletics
Thundering Herd Travels to Ohio in WNIT's First Round
3/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
WNIT Bracket
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall women's basketball team will play in its first-ever Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) Thursday at Ohio, tournament officials announced late Monday. The game time will be announced Tuesday.
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. and are $7, with a special $5 rate for children 12 and under. All seating will be general admission. To order, fans should click here or call 800-575-2287.
Parking at the game will be free of charge. Fans may park in the lots located behind the Convocation Center (lots 127/128).
Tickets will be available for purchase on gameday as available. Gates open 90 minutes before tip-off.
The Thundering Herd is 21-11 this season, the most wins for the program since the 1986-87 season when it went 24-5. Marshall made its third appearance in the Conference USA semifinals last week in Birmingham, downing FIU and WKU in the process, before suffering a defeat to eventual champion Middle Tennessee.
Ohio is 24-6 overall this season and won the Mid-American Conference regular season but got bounced out of the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals by eighth-seeded Buffalo, 72-60. The Bobcats went 16-0 against the rest of the league but fell in all three meetings to the Bulls, who went on to win the league's tournament and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
It is the third postseason appearance for Marshall in the NCAA era. The Thundering Herd lost to Colorado (69-49) in the first round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament. In 2015, it played in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) and defeated Northern Kentucky 81-79 before falling to Mercer 73-71 in the second round.
"It's hard to put into words how excited I am for our players, staff, university and community," said Marshall coach Matt Daniel. "I called every player tonight to tell them so they could hear my voice and we could laugh together. It is easy for them to lose perspective and not grasp what is taking place."
"They are writing their own history. I'm just so thrilled to be a part of it."
The Thundering Herd is led by first-team All-Conference USA selection Leah Scott, who averages 16.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
Ohio is powered by first-team All-MAC pick Kiyanna Black, who leads the team with 18.1 points per contest. Jasmine Weatherspoon is the team's leading rebounder at 6.4 caroms per contest. Quiera Lampkins was named the league's defensive player of the year and boasts 73 steals on the season.
The winner of the Marshall-Ohio game gets the winner of the Virginia Tech-Elon contest, which will also be played Thursday in Blacksburg, Va., at a date to be determined.
