2021 Women's National Invitation Tournament

Last updated

2021 Women's National Invitation Tournament
Season 2020–21
Teams32
Finals site My Town Movers Fieldhouse
Collierville, Tennessee
Champions Rice (1st title)
Runner-up Ole Miss (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Tina Langley (1st title)
MVPNancy Mulkey (Rice)
Attendance600 (championship game)
Women's National Invitation Tournaments
« 2020 2022 »

The 2021 Women's National Invitation Tournament was a tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. The tournament committee announced the 32-team field on March 15, 2021, following the selection of the NCAA Tournament field. The tournament began on March 19, 2021, with the championship game on March 28, 2021. Rice won its first WNIT championship. All games were streamed on FloSports. [1]

Contents

Format changes

Changes were made in order to ensure continued viability for the tournament during the COVID-19 pandemic. The field of teams was halved from 64 to 32. Games were not held on-campus; instead there were regional sites. Each conference was not guaranteed an automatic bid as they have been in the past. Teams also were not required to have at least a .500 record. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Participants

The 2021 WNIT field consisted of nine automatic invitations and twenty-three at-large teams. Automatic bids were given to regular season conference champions that did not win their conference tournaments, except for WAC regular season and conference tournament champion California Baptist, since they are still in transition to Division I and are ineligible to participate in the NCAA Women's Tournament until 2023.

Source: [6]

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

Charlotte Regional – Charlotte, North Carolina

First round
March 19 		Second round
March 20 		Quarterfinals
March 22
         
Fordham 49
Delaware77
Delaware87
Clemson 74
Ohio 60
Clemson65
Delaware77
Villanova 70
Charlotte 65
Florida66
Florida 57
Villanova77
UMass 51
Villanova78

Consolation Games

March 20 March 22
      
Fordham 65
Ohio81
Ohio 71
UMass95
Charlotte 75
UMass81

Fort Worth Regional – Fort Worth, Texas

First round
March 19 		Second round
March 20 		Quarterfinals
March 22
         
Arizona State 36
Rice48
Rice87
Fresno State 73
Fresno State78
Missouri 75
Rice79
California Baptist 55
San Francisco71
Houston 63
San Francisco 82
California Baptist90
California Baptist90
New Mexico 85

Consolation Games

March 20 March 22
      
Arizona State50
Missouri 39
Arizona State 48
Houston50
Houston
New Mexico [upper-alpha 1]

Memphis Regional – Collierville, Tennessee

First round
March 19 		Second round
March 20 		Quarterfinals
March 22
         
UT Martin 46
Nebraska72
Nebraska 71
Colorado75
Louisiana 45
Colorado68
Colorado 56
Ole Miss65
Samford 45
Ole Miss64
Ole Miss72
Tulane 61
Illinois State 67
Tulane75

Consolation Games

March 20 March 22
      
UT Martin58
Louisiana 48
UT Martin64
Illinois State 59
Samford 62
Illinois State68

Rockford Regional – Rockford, Illinois

First round
March 19 		Second round
March 20 		Quarterfinals
March 22
         
Northern Iowa70
Dayton 56
Northern Iowa64
Creighton 63
Creighton72
Bowling Green 65
Northern Iowa58
Saint Louis 50
Saint Louis74
DePaul 72
Saint Louis61
Milwaukee 44
Milwaukee84
Drake 46

Consolation Games

March 20 March 22
      
Dayton 76
Bowling Green77
Bowling Green 68
Drake78
DePaul 91
Drake100

Semifinals and Championship Game – Collierville, Tennessee

Semifinals
March 26 		Championship Game
March 28
      
Delaware 75
Rice85
Rice71
Ole Miss 58
Ole Miss60
Northern Iowa 50

Semifinals

Rice scored the first six points in a semi final game against Delaware, but the blue hens responded to tie up the game at 12 points apiece. Shortly thereafter Rice went on an 11 – 0 run to open up a double-digit lead. Rice held a comfortable lead for most of the game although Delaware cut the lead to seven points in the final minute. Delaware was forced to foul and Rice made the free throws to extend the lead back to double digits, and finished with a 10 point win 85–75. Lauren Schwartz was the leading scorer for Rice with 25 points matched by Jasmine Dickey 25 points for Delaware. Rice hit 54% of their field goal attempts, and did even better beyond the arc hitting nine of 16 for 56%. [8] [9]

In the other semifinal, Mississippi pulled out to a small three point lead 14 – 11 little more than halfway through the first quarter but then held no than Iowa scoreless for about six minutes extending the lead to double digits 22–11. Mississippi continue to lead throughout the game and ending up winning by 10 points 60–50. the wind moved Mississippi into the title game, the first SEC team to advance to the WN night title game since Auburn won the tournament in 2003. [10] [11]

Friday, March 26, 2021
4:00 pm (CT)
Delaware 75, Rice 85
Scoring by quarter: 16–26, 10–18, 26–23, 23–18
Pts: 25 – Dickey
Rebs: 13 – Dickey
Asts: 4 – Dickey		Pts: 25 – Schwartz
Rebs: 11 – Mulkey
Asts: 7 – Wiggins
Friday, March 26, 2021
7:00 pm (CT)
Ole Miss 60, Northern Iowa 50
Scoring by quarter: 20–11, 11–12, 18–14, 11–13
Pts: 18 – Austin
Rebs: 11 – Scott
Asts: 6 – Reid		Pts: 16 – Rucker
Rebs: 8 – Maahs
Asts: 5 – Rucker
My Town Movers Fieldhouse
Collierville, Tennessee
Attendance: 300

Championship

In the championship game, Rice led most of the game opening up a double-digit lead in the third quarter. in the fourth quarter Rice had a 14 point lead with just over seven minutes to go when Mississippi held Rice scoreless for three minutes and cut the lead to four points 58–54. Rice responded, outscoring the rebels 13–4 in the final four minutes of the game to win their first WNIT championship. Lauren Swarts and Nancy Mulkey each had 19 points for Rice. Shakira Austin had 25 points for Mississippi, the only Rebel player in double-digits. [12] [13]

Sunday, March 28, 2021
1:00 pm (CT)
Rice 71, Ole Miss 58
Scoring by quarter: 17–13, 17–10, 18–17, 19–18
Pts: 19 – Tied
Rebs: 12 – Mulkey
Asts: 6 – Wiggins		Pts: 25 – Austin
Rebs: 9 – Austin
Asts: 4 – Nesbitt
My Town Movers Fieldhouse
Collierville, Tennessee
Attendance: 600

All-tournament team

Source: [14]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Game declared no contest. Houston advances in tournament. [7]

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References

  1. ↑ "Regional sites selected for 2021 Postseason WNIT". Women's NIT. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  2. ↑ "How college basketball's WNIT event will play-out in Rockford". WTVO . Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  3. ↑ "WNIT regional coming to Bojangles Coliseum". WSOC-TV . Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Why Collierville High School will host the WNIT's Memphis Regional basketball". The Commercial Appeal . Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Fort Worth to host regional round of Women's NIT". Fort Worth Business Press. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  6. ↑ "2021 field announced for 32-team Postseason WNIT". womensnit.com. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  7. ↑ Koso, Kyle (March 20, 2021). "VWNIT Region Recap: Fort Worth • March 20". womensnit.com. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Rice - Delaware boxscore". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Hot-shooting Rice moves past Delaware in WNIT semis". womensnit.com. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Mississippi - Northern Iowa Boxscore". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Defense Shuts Down UNI, Ole Miss Advances to WNIT Title Game". Ole Miss Athletics. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Rice beats Ole Miss for WNIT title". Antelope Valley Press. Associated Press. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Rice - Mississippi play by play". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021.
  14. ↑ Koso, Kyle. "Rice storms by Ole Miss to claim WNIT title behind Mulkey, Schwartz". womensnit.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2021. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
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