Rice Women's Basketball to face BYU 2023 WNIT first round

Rice women’s basketball has accepted an invitation to participate in the 2023 WNIT and will play BYU in the first round.

Rice women’s basketball is postseason bound. After falling to UTSA in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament, the Owls have accepted a bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). The first round will take place from March 15 to March 17. All host sites for that round and subsequent rounds will be determined by the higher bidding team.

Rice will play BYU in the first round on Friday, March 17 with tipoff scheduled for 8:00 pm CT. BYU enters the tournament with a 16-16 record. The Cougars last played in the WCC Tournament, falling to Gonzaga.

Stream the game on BYUtv here.

The Owls have a rich history with the WNIT. In 2018, Rice defeated Texas State in Round 1 before falling to New Mexico in Round 2. They next appeared in the WNIT in 2021, parading through the field and defeating Ole Miss to take home the tournament championship. Along the way they posted victories over Arizona State, Fresno State, California Baptist and Delaware.

This will be the first appearance for Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds in a postseason tournament after taking over leadership of the program prior to the 2021-2022 season.

The entire field WNIT was announced on Monday, following the release of the Women’s NCAA Tournament Bracket. Here is the full WNIT bracket. Should Rice advance past the first round, the Owls would play the winner of the first round game between Oregon and North Dakota State.