at   

No. 4 Wichita State (18-14) at No. 1 Memphis (18-13)

Listen | Live Stats | Game Notes | Tickets | Live Video

Women's Basketball Invitational Bracket

---

Date: Sun., March 21, 2010
Tip: 2 p.m. CST
Location: Memphis, Tenn.
Arena: Elma Roane Fieldhouse
Radio: KNSS 1330 AM
Talent: Brian Petrotta (pbp)
Series: Memphis leads 1-0

 

• Fresh off the first postseason win in school history, the Wichita State women's basketball team heads to Memphis, Tenn., for a WBI quarterfinal matchup with the Memphis Tigers.

• The Shockers and Tigers have met just once prior to Sunday's game, a 61-54 Memphis win last season. Marcy Sudbeck led WSU with a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The only returning member of last year's squad that saw significant time against Memphis was Marisah Henderson. Henderson was 4-of-10 from the floor and finished with 10 points and five assists.

• The Shockers have 18 wins for the first time since the 1999-00 team finished with 20. Only two teams in school history have won at least 18 games (1980-81 [20], 1999-00 [20]). WSU can break the school record of 20 wins by winning the WBI. A championship run would give the Shockers 21 wins on the year.

• A win on Sunday would give the Shockers their second postseason win in school history and keep their season alive. As the No. 4 seed in the WBI West Region, WSU would then play the winner of the No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi/No. 3 Washington game. Regardless of the outcome of that game, the Shockers would be the road team in a game that would be played either March 24 or 25.

• The Shockers are coming off a win over Akron in the first round of the WBI. WSU trailed the Zips 37-26 at halftime but stormed back, scoring the first six points  and not allowing a field goal for the first 9:24 of the second half.

• WSU's defense tightened up in the second half after allowing Akron to shoot 55-percent and score 24 points in the paint in the first half. Those numbers fell to 28-percent and just six points in the paint in the second half for the Zips.

• The Missouri Valley Conference matched a league-high tying six teams earning post-season berths (1 NCAA, 3 WNIT, 2 WBI), which also occurred in 1999 (2 NCAA, 4 WNIT.  2010 marks the 11th-straight season that the Missouri Valley Conference has earned at least three post-season bids.

• Including Wichita State, eight of ten Valley women's basketball teams boast overall records at or above .500 - marking the first time in league history for eight teams to accomplish this feat. Previously, seven teams have finished the season .500 or better on three occasions -- 1998-99 (7 winning records), 1996-97 (6 winning, 1 at .500) and 1993-94 (6 winning, 1 at .500).