LEXINGTON, Ky. — Saint Mary's Women's Basketball will take on the Austin Peay Governors in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational this Friday. The Gaels are guaranteed to play three games, win or lose, as the tournament features a consolation bracket as well. They will play either Furman or Bowling Green in their second game. It will be the first meetings in program history between Saint Mary's and Austin Peay and their potential second-round opponents.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (15-15, 9-9) vs Austin Peay (19-11, 4-11)
Friday, March 18 at 11:30 a.m.
Clive M. Beck Center – Lexington, Ky.
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Game Two
Saint Mary's (15-15, 9-9) vs. Furman (19-12, 10-4) or Bowling Green (15-15, 10-10)
Saturday, March 19 at 9:00 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. 
Clive M. Beck Center – Lexington, Ky.
WATCH | LIVE STATS
 
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's Women's Basketball fell behind early against Loyola Marymount University & couldn't complete the comeback against the Lions in a 71-64 loss in the second round of the WCC Tournament.
 
The loss quickly ended the Gaels conference tournament after finishing fifth in the WCC standings and earning a first-round bye. LMU road the momentum of their 64-54 win over Pepperdine in the first round and jumped out to a big lead.
 
Though the Gaels would trim the Lions double-digit leads down to single digits, including making it a two-point game in the fourth, Saint Mary's was never able to get over the hump to tie the game or capture the lead.
 
Madeline Holland finished with 15 points and eight rebounds and Taycee Wedin led all scorers 18 points and had five rebounds. Ali Bamberger finished with 14 boards and eight points in her first WCC tournament game, and Leia Hanafin led Saint Mary's in assists with four.
 
2021-22 YEARBOOK
The 2021-22 Saint Mary's Basketball Yearbook is available HERE. This contains all of your information on both Saint Mary's basketball programs, coach and player profiles, as well as Saint Mary's, administration, and fan information.
 
ABOUT AUSTIN PEAY
The Governors are making their first trip to a national postseason tournament since 2010, when they fell to top-seeded Tennessee, 42-75, in the NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boiling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Govs are 0-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and will look to pick up their first-ever postseason victory in their first trip to the WBI.
 
With a 19-11 record this season, first-year Austin Peay head coach Brittany Young is the fifth head coach in program history to post a winning record in their debut season. Young has already won the third-most games by an Austin Peay head coach in their first season and needs just one win to have the second-most in a first season in program history. Young also won 11 Ohio Valley Conference games this season, which were the third-most by a head coach in their first season.
 
The Governors have already posted their best single-season mark since the 2003-04 team won 23 games during their OVC Championship season.
 
As a team, Austin Peay is shooting 45.6 percent from the field this season. The Governors have not shot over 45 percent from the floor in a season since the 2002-03 team set the single-season program record by shooting 47.4 percent.
 
The Govs are led by First Team All-OVC selections Yamia Johnson and Karle Pace, who were the program's first first-team selections since the 2018-19 season. Johnson and Pace are also the first pair of Austin Peay players to receive All-OVC honors in the same season since 2009-10 and are the first duo to pick up First Team All-OVC honors in the same season since 2003-04.
 
Nina De Leon Negron has dished out 101 asists this season and she is the first Gov to record 100-plus assists since 2017-18 seaosn. With 94 assists this season, Ella Sawyer also has a chance to top the century mark in the WBI. If Sawyer can reach the 100-assist mark, her and De Leon Negron would become the first Austin Peay teammates to record 100-or-more assists in the same season since the 2005-06 season.
 
ABOUT BOWLING GREEN
The 2021-22 season marks BGSU's first trip to the WBI, but the Falcons have won the MAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Championships on 11 occasions, and the Falcons have qualified for the WNIT eight times in program history. Overall, BG has an 11-19 record in national tournament play, including a 3-11 mark in the NCAAs and an 8-8 record in the WNIT.

The Falcons finish tied for sixth in their 12-team league. The Falcons' most recent game was an 81-67 loss to third-seeded Akron in the MAC Tournament's quarterfinal round on March 9.

Madisen Parker has hit 245 three-point field goals in her career, and has moved into second place on that BG career chart. As a team, the Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in 549 consecutive games over the last 17 years. That is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation.

Kadie Hempfling is ranked on the BGSU career lists for scoring (22nd), rebounding (10th), assists (sixth) and three-pointers made (14th). Parker has moved into 31st place on the BG career scoring chart.

Entering Friday's Furman game, Morgan Sharps leads the MAC – and is eighth in the nation – in three-point field-goal percentage. She has hit 44.5% of her long-distance shots this season. Nyla Hampton has 10 steals over the last three games, and is ranked among the top-25 players in the nation with 79 steals this season. That total ranks her fourth on the BGSU single-season list.
 
ABOUT FURMAN
Furman is making its third appearance in program history at the WBI after earning bids in 2014-15 and 2017-18.
 
The Paladins (19-12) finished the regular season third in the Southern Conference standings and advanced to their ninth SoCon Women's Basketball Championship game in program history, falling 73-54 to top-seeded Mercer. Furman had three players selected to the SoCon All-Tournament Team in Tierra Hodges (first team), Tate Walters (first team) and Grace van Rij (second team).

Hodges was the consensus SoCon Player of the Year this season and earned first team all-conference accolades from the coaches and media. Joining Hodges in garnering league recognition were Walters and van Rij, who were second team All-SoCon picks, and Niveya Henley, who collected SoCon All-Freshman Team honors.
 
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