West Virginia’s women are back in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time and third consecutive year.
The Mountaineers were chosen as a No. 6 seed in Regional 2/Birmingham and will play Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C., against the winner of a First Four game between No. 11 seeds Columbia and Washington.
Led by senior guard JJ Quinerly, who is averaging 20.6 points, the Mountaineers (24-7, 13-5) finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big 12 with Kansas and Utah. WVU won eight of its past 11 games, including a 73-69 victory against Kansas State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on March 7. The next day, WVU was eliminated by TCU, a No. 2 seed, in Regional 3/Birmingham, 71-65.
Columbia (23-6, 13-1) built winning streaks of 11 and five games that were broken both times by Ivy League rival Harvard. The second of those two losses came in the Ivy League championship game, a 74-71 Harvard victory. For the first time, three Ivy League schools were chosen for the 68-team women’s field, including Harvard, Columbia and Princeton.
Washington (19-13, 9-9) finished 12th in the 18-team Big Ten. The Huskies had a five-game winning streak broken by Michigan in a 66-58 loss March 6 in the Big Ten Tournament.
Columbia and Washington will play Thursday in Chapel Hill.
If West Virginia defeats the Columbia/Washington winner, the Mountaineers could play North Carolina on Monday, March 24, in the Tar Heels’ backyard in the second round in Chapel Hill. UNC, a No. 3 seed, opens against No. 14 Oregon State.