Things may not have gone as well as Ohio State wanted with a very young basketball team this year, but there’s still something to play for.
That’s because the women were selected to play in the WNIT per a release from the university, and will host Morehead State in a first-round matchup on Wednesday.
The Buckeyes had a rough start to the 2018-19 season but showed drastic improvement throughout the year, it was just a little too late to put together a body of work to get into the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s the complete release from Ohio State announcing the news.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s basketball team has been selected to compete in the 2019 WNIT. Ohio State will play host to Morehead State in the opening round on Wednesday, March 20. Game time will be announced on Tuesday, March 19.
The Buckeyes are 14-14 on the season and were the No. 5 seed in this year’s Big Ten Tournament. By virtue of being the highest seeded Big Ten team not selected for the NCAA Tournament, Ohio State earned the conference’s automatic bid into the WNIT.
Ohio State and Morehead State will be meeting for just the third time and the first since 1983. OSU won both ends of a home-and-home series with the Eagles in both 1982 and 1983. MSU was 23-10 overall this season and 13-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Buckeyes are one of three Big Ten teams in the field, joining Minnesota and Northwestern.
Ohio State started the season 4-8 before winning 10 of its final 15 conference games to finish the regular season 14-13 overall and 10-8 in the Big Ten. Dorka Juhász was named second team All-Big Ten and was also named to the All-Freshmen Team. Guard Carmen Grande and Carly Santoro each earned honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades.
This is just the second time Ohio State is participating in the WNIT. The previous appearance was in 2001 when the Buckeyes won five games in route to the title. They beat Cincinnati and DePaul at home, then won at Western Kentucky before returning home to beat James Madison in the semifinals. The championship game was played in front of 18,018 fans in The Pit at New Mexico. Jamie Lewis made two late threes to lead the Buckeyes to a 62-61 victory.
