NORFOLK, Va. (ODUSports.com) – For the ninth time in program history, the Old Dominion women’s basketball team will be represented in the Postseason WNIT, as tournament officials released theofficial 64-team field [womensnit.com]on Sunday night.
Old Dominion owns a 23-9 overall record and finished third in the Conference USA East Division with a 13-5 mark in C-USA play. The Monarchs dispatched UTSA in the C-USA Tournament Second Round, 65-45, before seeing a furious and spirited comeback bid fall just short in a 65-58 loss to North Texas in the quarterfinals.
The Monarchs are one of the top defensive units in the country, ranking 22nd nationally in scoring defense (55.3 points per game). ODU has turned over its opponents 20.31 times per game, 15th-best in Division I, and are top-80 in the country in field goal percentage defense (37.6, 80th) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (28.5, 70th).
ODU features a pair of First Team All-Conference USA performers in Iggy Allen and Ajah Wayne. Allen is seventh in the conference in scoring (14.9) and rebounding (7.7). Wayne is averaging 12.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the field. To read more about Wayne’s inspiring comeback from an injury to play in Wednesday’s North Texas game,click here [odusports.com]to read Harry Minium’s story.
The Monarchs are making their ninth appearance in the WNIT and are 7-8 in the tournament. Old Dominion won the then-National Women’s Invitational Tournament in 1978 as a warm-up to back-to-back AIAW national championships in 1979 and 1980. ODU has been a part of the WNIT six times since its rebirth in 1998.
Head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones is 2-1 in the WNIT, leading Pepperdine to the Sweet 16 of the 2019 edition.
Locations, matchups and start times for first round games and the full bracket will be announced by 2 p.m. on Monday, March 14. All games are played at individual schools. A breakdown of potential game dates is below:
- Round 1 - March 16-18, 2022
- Round 2 - March 19-22, 2022
- Round 3 - March 23-26, 2022
- Quarterfinals - March 26-28, 2022
- Semifinals - March 30-31, 2022
- Championship - Saturday, April 2, 2022
