March 12, 2012
NORFOLK, Va. - Stanford, West Virginia, Texas and Hampton will be the teams coming to Norfolk and the Ted Constant Convocation Center for the first and second rounds of the 2012 Division I NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
West Virginia, the No. 8 seed with an at-large bid out of the BIG EAST and No. 9 seed Texas, who was an at-large seed out of the BIG 12, will open up play in first round action on Saturday, March 17 at 11:10 a.m.
Stanford, the No. 1 seed of the Fresno Region will take on No. 16 seed Hampton on Saturday, 30 minutes following the conclusion of the Mountaineers versus Longhorn match-up.
The winners of the first two first round games will play in the second round on Monday, March 19 at 7 p.m.
Stanford enters the tournament with a 31-1 overall record with their only loss to fellow No. 1 seed Connecticut back on November 21. The Cardinal are led by sisters, Nmemkadi Ogwumike, a 6-2 senior forward averaging 21.8 points per game, and younger sister Chiney, a 6-3 sophomore forward registering 15.8 points per game.
Hampton won their third-straight MEAC Tournament Title and sports a 26-4 overall record. The Pirates are led by three local student-athletes in Ariel Phelps, a junior out of Tallwood High School, sophomore Alyssa Bennett of Hampton High School and Keiara Avant, a junior out of Indian River High School in Chesapeake.
West Virginia is 23-9 on the year and also bring a pair of local talent in freshmen Crystal Leary and Linda Stepney. Both attended Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk. The Mountaineers finished fifth in the BIG EAST regular season standings and advanced to the conference tournament semifinals.
Texas comes to Norfolk with an 18-13 overall mark. The Longhorns are led by senior guard Ashleigh Fontennette with 11.9 points per game and sophomore guard Chassidy Frissell at 16.5 points per game.
Tickets are available by calling 757-683-4444 or by going to coxtix.com. For more information click here