UNI Women’s Basketball Team to Play in WNIT

The University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team received an automatic bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament after winning the regular season MVC title.

The Panthers will play Nebraska in Lincoln, NE on Thursday, March 17, 2016. A game time will be set on Tuesday.

This is UNI’s sixth post-season appearance in the last seven seasons, including back-to-back invitations to the WNIT. UNI has earned eight selections to post-season tournaments in program history, with six of those coming under the direction of three-time MVC Coach of the Year, Tanya Warren.

UNI has accepted bids to play in the WNIT in five previous seasons, including 2001, 2003, 2006, 2013 and 2015.

UNI has faced off against the Nebraska Cornhuskers six times in school history, with its last match up taking place in 2010 in the NCAA Tournament.

UNI is coming off of its seventh straight winning season with 17 or more victories. The Panthers are currently 22-10 overall, its most wins in a season since the 2010-11 season when UNI finished 27-6.

The Panthers claimed the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title in 2015-16, wrapping up conference season on an eight-game winning streak. UNI turned it into a 10-game winning streak, advancing to the finals of the MVC Tournament to take second place.

Along with two team trophies and a coach of the year award, the Panthers also brought home some hardware on the individual side of things. Madison Weekly and Amber Sorenson were both named to the All-Conference first-team while Jen Keitel earned honorable mention and Sharnae Lamar was selected to the All-Defense team. Weekly and Lamar also both landed on the All-Tournament team after their spectacular performances over a span of three games in Moline, Ill.

Off the court, Weekly racked up three recognitions after being named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, MVC Elite 18 Award winner and Scholar-Athlete first-team. Stephanie Davison, Sorenson and Keitel also were selected to the Scholar-Athlete honorable mention squad.

An official game time for UNI’s first round WNIT game against Nebraska will be set tomorrow. Stay tuned to www.UNIPanthers.com for more information.