CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's basketball has drawn Marquette in the opening round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), with the game set for Thursday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee.

The winner of Thursday's opening-round game advances to play the Western Kentucky-Illinois winner. WKU and Illinois square off March 19 in Bowling Green, Ky. The second-round game would be held March 20-23.

The Panthers (23-10) were granted an automatic bid to the WNIT after winning the regular-season Ohio Valley Conference title for the first time. Eastern will be making its first national postseason appearance since losing to Colorado in the opening round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament.

Marquette (16-15, 6-10 Big East) is making its eighth consecutive postseason appearance and 15th in program history. The selection into the WNIT field is MU's seventh. The Golden Eagles are 12-6 all-time in WNIT/NWIT play. Marquette was a participant in the 2009 WNIT, losing at Illinois State, 51-50, in the third round.

 

The Panthers and Golden Eagles have met only one other time in women's basketball, with EIU winning 93-57 in December 1986 at Lantz Arena.

Eastern and Marquette do not have a common opponent this season. The Panthers' last game against a Big East Conference opponent was a November 2008 loss at Cincinnati.

 

This is the first year of the expanded Postseason WNIT, and the field includes 31 teams that earned automatic berths and 33 teams that earned at-large berths.

The WNIT kicks off postseason action Wednesday with first-round games. All games are held on the campuses of participating schools. All 64 teams will play in the first round, featuring 32 games. That will be followed by 16 games in Round two, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games, and the championship. The WNIT championship game will be played Saturday, April 3, and will be hosted by one of the two final participating schools.

The WNIT awards an automatic qualifying berth to each of the nation's 31 conferences. The spot goes to the team that finishes the highest in the regular-season conference standings that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament. If there is a tie, the WNIT abides by the conference tiebreaker. A team earns the automatic qualifying berth regardless of its overall record. However, to be considered for a WNIT at-large berth, a team must have an overall record of .500 or better.

 

Eastern was the lone OVC team to earn a WNIT berth this season. Marquette was one of five Big East teams to be chosen for the field.

Missouri State, Oral Roberts, Samford and Mississippi complete the bottom half of EIU's primary bracket. The Panthers would need to win two games to play the team emerging from that half of the bracket. All WNIT games are played at campus sites of a participating team.