HawgSports.com - UA Women headed for WNIT

March 17, 2009

Otis Kirk
HawgSports.com Recruiting Analyst

The Arkansas women's basketball team has seen its season extended by at least one game with its selection to the WNIT.

Arkansas was awarded a first-round bye on Monday and now will play host to the winner of the Oklahoma State-UT Arlington game on Monday at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas (17-13) is in its second season under Coach Tom Collen.

"We are excited that we have the opportunity to continue our season and represent the University of Arkansas," Collen said. "We have a young team that wants to keep playing and prove that road wins at Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida were not a fluke."

Arkansas is the SEC's automatic representative in the WNIT since all seven of the SEC teams seeded higher than Arkansas received bids to the NCAA Tournament. UT-Arlington (22-10) will travel to Stillwater to take on OSU (16-15) on Saturday. If Arkansas is able to win its opener, it would then face either Kansas, UC Riverside or Creighton.

"We don't care who we play," Collen said. "We just want to get back on the floor."

In 2005, Arkansas played in the WNIT. It won its first-round game against UNLV, but then lost on the road to Arkansas State. It's the third appearance for Arkansas in this event. In 1999, it won five-straight games including beating Wisconsin in the finals at Bud Walton Arena.

"We have a young team that will benefit from the extra games and the experience, but most of all, we want these seniors to go out on a positive note," Collen said. "For what Whitney Jones and Ayana Brereton have done for this school the past four years, we want them to have the chance to extend their season."

Arkansas' 6-8 finish in SEC play was its best since 2003 and included a school-record five-game winning streak against SEC teams. Arkansas lost to Ole Miss 65-60 at Alltel Arena in the first round of the SEC Tournament earlier this month.

UALR also is in the 48-team field, but the only way they could meet the Razorbacks would be in the championship game since they are on opposite sides of the bracket. UALR will play host to Murray State on Friday. The winner will advance to face Ole Miss.

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