Davidson Travels to James Madison in Women’s NIT Opener on Thursday

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DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Davidson women's basketball team, regular season co-champions of the Southern Conference, drew James Madison for the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament as announced by the WNIT late Monday night.

Davidson earned the Southern Conference's automatic bid into the Women's NIT after it tied ASU with a 17-3 league mark, but won both games vs. the Mountaineers this year in two-game series. This is the Wildcats second trip to the WNIT after getting an at-large bid in 2006-07 when they drew UAB.

The 'Cats will take their 22-9 record to Harrisonburg, Va., on Thursday, March 15, for a first-round matchup against the Dukes. Gametime will be announced Tuesday, March 13, by the WNIT. For ticket information, please contact JMU's athletic ticket office at 540-568-3853.

Davidson is coming off a 1-1 showing at the SoCon Tournament. Seeded No. 1 for the first time, the 'Cats took home a 69-58 quarterfinal win vs. Wofford, but were upset by fourth-seeded and eventual tournament winner Samford in the semifinals, 62-51.

It has been a solid year for head coach Michele Savage and the Wildcats, who finished a school-best 17-3 in SoCon play. Their 22 wins are second-most in school history and they rattled off a nine-game win streak, which was second-best next to the 10-game run during the 2006-07. Davidson also took homecourt advantage to a new level this year, going a program-best 12-1 at John M. Belk Arena, including a record 9-1 vs. the league.

In addition, Davidson set two team school records, breaking the single-season rebounding mark with 1,254 and blocks with 147.

Savage was tabbed the SoCon Coach of the Year by both the coaches and media, while Sophia Aleksandravicius became just the second player in program history to be named the SoCon Player of the Year as voted on by the coaches. The junior was a first-team all-league pick and joined by sophomore Laura Murray on both the coaches and media teams.

James Madison enters the WNIT with a 24-7 record after reaching the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. It marked only the second time since 2005 that the Dukes had not advanced to the championship game after winning the last two CAA Championships.

The Dukes, who have never played Davidson, had a pair of five-game win streaks throughout the regular season. They went 14-4 in the CAA, good for second-best in the league. JMU is led offensively by Tarik Hislop and Kirby Burkholder who average 14.7 and 10.5 points, respectively. Nikki Newman was voted the CAA's Defensive Player of the Year, while Hislop was an all-league second team member and Burkholder was named to the third team.

With a win over the Dukes, the Wildcats would play the winner of Charlotte and Wake Forest in the second round, March 17-19.

The WNIT is celebrating its 15th season and has selected one of its most competitive fields in tournament history featuring 36 teams with 20 or more wins this season. The field includes 31 teams that earned an automatic berth, and 33 teams that were chosen at-large to form the 64-team field. The postseason WNIT opens with first-round games Wednesday-Friday, March 14-16. The event culminates Saturday, March 31, with the championship. All games are hosted by participating schools.

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