Hawks Advance to Second Round of WNIT

The University of Hartford women’s basketball team defeated Bucknell 70-54 Thursday in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), advancing to play South Carolina in the second round on Sunday.

Senior Ikea Witt led the Hawks with 25 points, the most by any Hartford player this season. Hartford hosted Thursday evening’s game at Chase Arena, Reich Family Pavilion.

With Thursday’s victory, Hartford (25-8 overall) becomes the first America East team to record postseason wins in back-to-back seasons. The Hawks’ victory also marks the first America East win in the postseason WNIT since Vermont recorded two victories in 2002. With the win, Hartford reaches the 25-win plateau for back-to-back seasons, and is just the third team in league history to accomplish that feat.

The Hawks advance to play South Carolina in the second round of the WNIT on Sunday (March 18) at 5 p.m. in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina received a bye through the first round and has not played since March 2, when it fell to Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

See the complete WNIT bracket (pdf).

You can listen to Sunday’s game on WWUH radio (91.3 FM or www.wwuh.org). To read personal accounts of the Hawks’ WNIT experience from Jonathan Easterbrook, the play-by-play voice of Hartford women’s basketball – and to add your own comments – visit the Hawks Hoop-Blog, at http://hawksncaa.blogspot.com.

For details of Thursday’s game against Bucknell, visit www.hartfordhawks.com.