BOSTON - For just the second time in America East history, four teams will make appearances in postseason tournaments as Albany, Maine, UMBC and Stony Brook all discovered their postseason fate on Monday.
The Albany Great Danes highlight the group after earning their fifth-straight automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship after winning the America East tournament. The Great Danes are the No. 12 seed and will face fifth-seeded Florida on Friday at noon in Syracuse, N.Y. on ESPN2.
America East teams are 4-26 all-time in the NCAA tournament with the last win coming in 2010 when No. 10 Vermont beat No. 7 Wisconsin. America East teams also had wins in 2008 (No. 10 Hartford over No. 7 Syracuse), 2006 (No. 11 Hartford over No. 6 Temple) and 1999 (No. 10 Maine over No. 7 Stanford).
Maine will make its third-straight postseason appearance as the Black Bears earned the league's automatic bid to the WNIT. Maine will travel to Quinnipiac on Friday at 7 p.m.
Overall, the Black Bears will be making their fifth appearance in the WNIT after also competing in the tournament in 1990, 2003 and 2005. Maine is 1-5 all-time in its WNIT contests. Maine's lone win in the WNIT came in 1990 against Wyoming (68-48).
The America East is 7-17 all time in the WNIT with the last win coming in 2013 when Boston U. beat Sacred Heart.
Stony Brook is making its third-straight postseason appearance and second-straight in the WBI. The Seawolves will head to Youngstown, Ohio to face Youngstown State on Wednesday, March 16, at 7 p.m. Head coach Caroline McCombs returns to Youngstown State, where she is a member of the school's Athletics Hall of Fame, leading the Penguins to NCAA Tournament Appearances as the team's point guard in 1996 and 1998. With McCombs at the helm, the Penguins won their first tournament game in program history in 1997-98, defeating the fifth-seeded Memphis Tigers as a twelve seed.
UMBC will make its third postseason appearance in program history as the Retrievers will host Fairfield in the WBI on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be available live for free on AmericaEast.TV.
The 16-team WBI is in its seventh season and will take place over two weeks with all games being played on campus sites.
America East teams are 1-3 in the WBI with Maine earning a victory in 2014.