Baltimore, Md. - For the first time in its history, the Loyola University Maryland women's basketball team received a berth in the Women's National Invitation Tournament and will open play Wednesday with a visit to Old Dominion University at 7 o'clock.
The Greyhounds finished the regular season with a 20-12 record after suffering a defeat to nationally ranked Marist in the championship game of the 2011 Spark Energy MAAC Basketball Championship. Loyola was seeded second in the tournament after posting a 15-3 conference record.
This is Loyola's first postseason appearance since the 1994 and 1995 teams captured MAAC tournament titles and made consecutive NCAA trips. The three postseason bids are the only three in school history.
Wednesday's meeting with the Monarchs is the first matchup of the teams. Old Dominion tied for second in the Colonial Athletic Association and was seeded second in the conference tournament, losing in the quarterfinals to seventh-seeded Delaware. The winner of Wednesday's first-round WNIT game meets the winner of the Morgan State-Virginia contest that is being contested on Thursday.
This year's Greyhounds are one win away from equaling the school record for wins in a season and feature three double-figure scorers, each of whom earned all-MAAC honors. Leading scorer Miriam McKenzie is averaging 14.3 points per game while adding 7.4 rebounds and was named to the All-MAAC First Team for the second consecutive season. Sophomore Katie Sheahin was selected by the MAAC coaches as the Defensive Player of the Year after collecting 3.59 steals per game in addition to her 12.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per outing. She was joined on the All-MAAC Second Team by graduate student Erica DiClemente, who averaged 11.6 points per contest on the season.