BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU will make its 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament this week and will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on Oregon State on Friday morning at 11 a.m. (CT) as announced during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday evening.
Should the Lady Toppers win on Friday, WKU would then square off against the winner of Tennessee and Liberty on Sunday inside Thompson-Boling Arena. Friday's game against Oregon State will be carried on ESPN2.
WKU's No. 11 seed is its highest since being seeded 10th during the 2008 NCAA Tournament. That season, the Lady Toppers fell in their first-round game against UTEP, 92-60.
The Lady Toppers (24-8) booked their spot in the 2018 NCAA Tournament via C-USA's automatic bid after claiming the conference tournament championship last weekend with wins over UTSA (78-50), North Texas (77-61) and UAB (72-57). WKU will be competing in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and for the fourth time in six seasons under Head Coach Michelle Clark-Heard.
Oregon State (23-7) is led by Marie Gulich with 17.1 points per game. Kat Tudor (11.7) and Mikayla Pivec (11.1) also score in double figures for the Beavers; Gulich is also the team's leading rebounder at 8.9 boards per game. Pivec has dished out a team-best 145 assists, and Katie McWilliams is also in triple digits in the category, having assisted on 114 baskets this season.
The Beavers won their last seven games of the regular season and finished 14-4 in Pac-12 play to earn the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. Oregon State dropped its first game of the event in the quarterfinals, falling against Arizona State, 57-51.
WKU and Oregon State have met just one time in program history, with the Lady Toppers earning an 85-78 victory in the NCAA Tournament on March 19, 1995.
WKU will be seeking its first victory in the NCAA Tournament since a 68-65 win over Marquette in the opening round on March 18, 2000, in Durham, N.C. The Lady Toppers are 17-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and have reached two Final Fours (1985 and 1986) and were the national runners-up in 1992. The most recent NCAA Tournament victory by a C-USA representative came on March 22, 2008, when UTEP downed WKU, 92-60, in the first round.
In its previous 19 trips to the NCAA Tournament, WKU has collected at least one win in nine of those appearances and has reached at least the Sweet Sixteen on six separate occasions.
Ticket information for the 2018 NCAA Tournament will be available soon and will be provided for fans when available.
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