Three America East women's basketball teams will continue playing into the postseason for the second straight year. University of Vermont received the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, while University of Hartford earned an at-large bid to the Big Dance. Boston University will participate in the Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in back-to-back years. This will be just the third time in conference history when three teams will compete in the postseason.
The Catamounts (26-6) won the America East Championship on Saturday night and earned a 10 seed where they will face seven-seeded Wisconsin (21-10) out of the Big Ten Conference on Sunday at Notre Dame in a Kansas City regional match-up. The game can be seen on ESPN2 and on ESPN360.com at 12:21 p.m. on March 21. Vermont is making its second straight trip to the NCAAs, and the program's sixth overall, after also receiving the America East's automatic bid last year. The winner between the Catamounts and the Badgers will meet the winner of No. 2 Notre Dame (27-5) and No. 15 Cleveland State (19-13) on Tuesday, March 23.
The Hawks (27-4) earned the program's first-ever at-large bid, and the first from the conference since University of Maine in 2000. Hartford also earned a 10 seed, matching the program's best seed. Head Coach Jen Rizzotti's team knocked off No. 7 Syracuse as a 10 seed in the 2008 tournament. Hartford, ranked 21st in the AP Top-25 poll and 23rd in the USA Today/ESPN Poll, won 20 straight games before falling in the America East Championship title game to Vermont Saturday night. The Hawks landed in the Memphis regional where they face No. 7 LSU out of the SEC on Saturday at 12:06 p.m. in Durham, N.C. No. 2 Duke (27-5) and No. 15 Hampton (20-11) play in the other first-round game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Boston University (16-14) will host Providence College (16-14) of the BIG EAST on Thursday at Case Gym in a first-round postseason WNIT bout. The Terriers, who are making their second straight appearance in the postseason tournament, earned the league's automatic bid as the highest-finishing team in the regular-season standings without an NCAA bid. Boston U. is hosting a postseason game for the second straight year, after hosting Central Connecticut last year in the program's first ever tournament game at The Roof. The Terriers won that game before falling to Boston College in the second round at Chestnut Hill. This will be the fourth straight season an America East team has hosted a WNIT contest.
Stay tuned to AmericaEast.com, and America East's facebook and twitter pages for coverage of the 2010 postseason.