WBB Set To Host Middle Tennessee In First Round Of WNIT

MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State women's basketball team has accepted an invitation as an automatic qualifier to play in the upcoming Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) that consists of 64 teams. The Cardinals will host Middle Tennessee (18-12) Thursday in Worthen Arena at 7 p.m.

Ball State will be making its sixth straight WNIT appearance and ninth overall (all since 2002). The Cardinals are 5-8 all-time in WNIT play and won two games to reach the final 16 of the 2013 event. Last season, the Cardinals lost a first-round game at Indiana.

Ball State enters the WNIT with a 24-6 overall record. The Cardinals went 13-5 in Mid-American Conference play and earned a first-round bye in the league tournament for the fifth time in the past six seasons before falling to Western Michigan in the quarterfinals. The Cardinals began the year with a perfect 11-0 non-conference record, highlighted by wins over Purdue, Vanderbilt, Butler and Western Kentucky.

Brady Sallee, who is in his sixth season at Ball State, is the only head coach in program history to take the Cardinals to six straight WNITs. He became the program's winningest coach after the Cardinals defeated Eastern Michigan on March 3. Sallee's career record at Ball State is now 119-73.

The Postseason WNIT features 64 NCAA Division I women's basketball teams. The field includes 31 teams that receive automatic berths - one berth from each of the nation's established conferences - and 33 at-large selections. All teams at the NCAA Division I level are considered for at-large berths, including those who are independent and/or are in the process of reaching full NCAA Division I status.

Ball State is one of three MAC teams in this year's WNIT field, joined by Miami and Toledo.

WBB Set To Host Middle Tennessee In First Round Of WNIT

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