The 2015 Women's National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 64 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2015 Women's NCAA tournament. The annual tournament began on March 18 and ended on April 4, with the championship game televised on CBS Sports Network.[1] All games were played on the campus sites of participating schools. The Tournament was won by the UCLA Bruins who defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers, 62–60, in the final before a crowd of 8,658 at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia, on April 4.[2][3] It was UCLA's first WNIT title. UCLA's Jordin Canada was named the tournament's most valuable player.[4]
Season | 2014–15 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Teams | 64 | ||||
Finals site | Charleston Civic Center Charleston, West Virginia | ||||
Champions | UCLA (1st title) | ||||
Runner-up | West Virginia (2nd title game) | ||||
Semifinalists | |||||
Winning coach | Cori Close (1st title) | ||||
MVP | Jordin Canada (UCLA) | ||||
Attendance | 8,403 (championship game) | ||||
|
Participants
editSixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2015 WNIT. Thirty-two teams received automatic berths into the tournament from being the highest-ranked team in their conference that failed to make the NCAA Women's Tournament. The other 32 teams earned at-large bids, by having a winning record but failing to make the NCAA Women's Tournament. If a conference’s automatic qualifier declines the WNIT invitation, the conference forfeits that automatic spot, and that selection goes into the pool of at-large schools.[5][6]
Bracket
editWest Region
editRound 1 March 18–20 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Round 3 March 25–27 | Quarterfinals March 28–30 | ||||||||||||
Washington State | 66 | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Washington | 67 | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Washington | 49 | ||||||||||||||
Sacramento State | 84 | ||||||||||||||
Pacific | 79 | ||||||||||||||
Sacramento State | 83 | ||||||||||||||
Sacramento State | 69 | ||||||||||||||
St. Mary's (CA) | 77 | ||||||||||||||
Fresno State | 79 | ||||||||||||||
San Francisco | 73 | ||||||||||||||
Fresno State | 64 | ||||||||||||||
St. Mary's (CA) | 83 | ||||||||||||||
St. Mary's (CA) | 92* | ||||||||||||||
Hawai'i | 88 | ||||||||||||||
St. Mary's (CA) | 66 | ||||||||||||||
UCLA | 82 | ||||||||||||||
Colorado State | 48 | ||||||||||||||
Northern Colorado | 53 | ||||||||||||||
Northern Colorado | 59 | ||||||||||||||
South Dakota | 58 | ||||||||||||||
South Dakota | 68 | ||||||||||||||
Creighton | 58 | ||||||||||||||
Northern Colorado | 60 | ||||||||||||||
UCLA | 74 | ||||||||||||||
UCLA | 70 | ||||||||||||||
CS Bakersfield | 54 | ||||||||||||||
UCLA | 63 | ||||||||||||||
San Diego | 58 | ||||||||||||||
San Diego | 63 | ||||||||||||||
Long Beach State | 58 |
Midwest Region
editRound 1 March 18–20 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Round 3 March 25–27 | Quarterfinals March 28–30 | ||||||||||||
Michigan | 72 | ||||||||||||||
Cleveland State | 50 | ||||||||||||||
Michigan | 74 | ||||||||||||||
Toledo | 58 | ||||||||||||||
Toledo | 72 | ||||||||||||||
Wright State | 64 | ||||||||||||||
Michigan | 65 | ||||||||||||||
Missouri | 55 | ||||||||||||||
Kansas State | 86 | ||||||||||||||
Akron | 68 | ||||||||||||||
Kansas State | 48 | ||||||||||||||
Missouri | 67 | ||||||||||||||
Northern Iowa | 61 | ||||||||||||||
Missouri | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Michigan | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Southern Mississippi | 60 | ||||||||||||||
Drake | 70 | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Michigan | 80 | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Michigan | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Tulsa | 59 | ||||||||||||||
Missouri State | 72 | ||||||||||||||
Tulsa | 78 | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Michigan | 65 | ||||||||||||||
Southern Mississippi | 76 | ||||||||||||||
Southern Mississippi | 79 | ||||||||||||||
Texas Southern | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Southern Mississippi | 77* | ||||||||||||||
Texas Christian | 73 | ||||||||||||||
Texas Christian | 85 | ||||||||||||||
Stephen F. Austin | 80 |
* - Denotes overtime
South Region
editRound 1 March 18–20 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Round 3 March 25–27 | Quarterfinals March 28–30 | ||||||||||||
Middle Tennessee St. | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Ball State | 58 | ||||||||||||||
Middle Tennessee St. | 70 | ||||||||||||||
Arkansas State | 60 | ||||||||||||||
Arkansas State | 61 | ||||||||||||||
Western Michigan | 49 | ||||||||||||||
Middle Tennessee St. | 82 | ||||||||||||||
Ole Miss | 70 | ||||||||||||||
Georgia Tech | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Elon | 47 | ||||||||||||||
Georgia Tech | 48 | ||||||||||||||
Ole Miss | 63 | ||||||||||||||
Ole Miss | 80 | ||||||||||||||
Tennessee-Martin | 70 | ||||||||||||||
Middle Tennessee State | 57 | ||||||||||||||
Temple | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Marist | 54 | ||||||||||||||
Temple | 67 | ||||||||||||||
Temple | 61 | ||||||||||||||
Penn | 56 | ||||||||||||||
Penn | 65 | ||||||||||||||
Hofstra | 58 | ||||||||||||||
Temple | 80* | ||||||||||||||
North Carolina State | 79 | ||||||||||||||
East Carolina | 74 | ||||||||||||||
Radford | 52 | ||||||||||||||
East Carolina | 65 | ||||||||||||||
North Carolina State | 69 | ||||||||||||||
East Tennessee State | 58 | ||||||||||||||
North Carolina State | 73 |
* - Denotes overtime
East Region
editRound 1 March 18–20 | Round 2 March 22–24 | Round 3 March 25–27 | Quarterfinals March 28–30 | ||||||||||||
Youngstown State | 54 | ||||||||||||||
Duquesne | 72 | ||||||||||||||
Duquesne | 48 | ||||||||||||||
Richmond | 47 | ||||||||||||||
Stetson | 66 | ||||||||||||||
Richmond | 67 | ||||||||||||||
Duquesne | 39 | ||||||||||||||
West Virginia | 60 | ||||||||||||||
West Virginia | 84 | ||||||||||||||
Buffalo | 61 | ||||||||||||||
West Virginia | 57 | ||||||||||||||
Hampton | 39 | ||||||||||||||
Drexel | 42 | ||||||||||||||
Hampton | 45 | ||||||||||||||
West Virginia | 75* | ||||||||||||||
Villanova | 70 | ||||||||||||||
Fordham | 70 | ||||||||||||||
Central Connecticut State | 67 | ||||||||||||||
Fordham | 63 | ||||||||||||||
St. John's | 77 | ||||||||||||||
St. John's | 64 | ||||||||||||||
Army | 56 | ||||||||||||||
St. John's | 55 | ||||||||||||||
Villanova | 63 | ||||||||||||||
Villanova | 71 | ||||||||||||||
Maine | 60 | ||||||||||||||
Villanova | 71 | ||||||||||||||
Old Dominion | 66 | ||||||||||||||
Old Dominion | 69 | ||||||||||||||
Virginia | 62 |
* - Denotes overtime
Semifinals and championship game
editSemifinals April 1 | Championship Game April 4 CBSSN | ||||||||
UCLA | 69 | ||||||||
Michigan | 65 | ||||||||
UCLA | 62 | ||||||||
West Virginia | 60 | ||||||||
Temple | 58 | ||||||||
West Virginia | 66* |
* - Denotes overtime
Championship Game was played at Charleston Civic Center, Charleston, West Virginia.
All-tournament team
edit- Jordin Canada, UCLA (MVP)
- Nicole Elmblad, Michigan
- Averee Fields, West Virginia
- Nirra Fields, UCLA
- Bria Holmes, West Virginia
- Tyonna Williams, Temple
Source:[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "CBS SN to Televise WNIT Championship Game". Women's NIT. Triple Crown Sports. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
- ^ "Charleston to host WVU and UCLA Saturday in WNIT finals". Charleston Gazette. Charleston Gazette. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ "2020-21 WVU Women's Basketball Guide". Issuu. p. 44. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- ^ "UCLA beats WVU 62-60 for WNIT title". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "WNIT Current field". WNIT. Archived from the original on March 4, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
- ^ "2015 Postseason Bracket (PDF) - WNIT Pre and Post Tournament" (PDF). womensnit.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
- ^ "Tyonna Williams Named to All-WNIT Team". OwlSports.com. Temple University. April 6, 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2022.