LINCOLN ‹ The Nebraska women's basketball team captured its second straight NCAA Tournament bid when the Huskers earned the No. 8 Seed in the Spokane Regionalas the field of 64 teams was announced during the NCAASelection Show on ESPN on Monday evening.
The Huskers, who gathered at the Bob Devaney Sports Center to watch the selection show, will face Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament champion Xavier (24-8) in the first roundat 11 a.m. Sunda at College Park, Md., with live national television coverage provided by ESPN2.
Nebraska, which finished the regular season with a 20-11 overall record that included a 9-7 mark in the Big 12, claimed its school-record fifth straight postseason tournament bid in Head Coach Connie Yori's sixth season in Lincoln. The Huskers finished sixth in the final Big 12 standings, as the conference was rated as the No. 1 league in the country and contributed eight teams to the 64-team tournament field.
"Obviously we are excited to be back in the NCAA Tournament," Yori said. "We started the season with a very young team and our goal was to find our way back to the NCAA Tournament after losing four senior starters from last year's team. Hopefully we can take another step in the tournament this year."
The Huskers feature two-time first-team All-Big 12 forward Kelsey Griffin as their only returning starter from last year's club that finished with a 22-10 overall record. Griffin, a 6-2 forward from Eagle River, Alaska, averaged 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in Big 12 play this season. Nebraska's starting five also included first-year senior starter Danielle Page, junior college transfer Tay Hester, sophomore guard Yvonne Turner and true freshman guard Dominque Kelley.
Last season, Nebraska faced another Atlantic 10 Conference foe in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling toeighth-seeded Temple 64-61, in the opening round in Raleigh, N.C.
Nebraska will be making its eighth NCAA Tournament trip in school history, with the Huskers carrying a 2-7 record in tournament play.NU's last tournament victory came in 1998, when the Huskers knocked off New Mexico in the first round in Norfolk, Va. It will be Nebraska's third straight trip to the East Coast for the NCAA Tournament, joining last year's trip to North Carolina and a 2000 journey to Charlottesville, Va.
If the Huskers can get past ninth-seeded Xavier in the opening round, they will likely face No. 1 seeded Maryland on the Terrapins' homecourt at the Comcast Center, on Tuesday, March 25. The Terps (30-3) take on 16th-seeded Coppin State in the opening round.
Other No. 1 seeds in the tournament field including Connecticut, North Carolina and Tennessee, while Texas A&M, Stanford, Rutgers and LSU claimed No. 2 seeds.
In addtion to Nebraska and Texas A&M, No. 3 Baylor, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Kansas State, No. 7 Iowa State and No. 8 Texas also earned bids from the Big 12 Conference.
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