No, it wasn’t the NCAA’s “Big Dance.” But as far as consolation prizes go, the USF women’s basketball team came up huge last Saturday by winning the 2009 Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Bulls downed Kansas 75-71 in front of the largest crowd, more than 16,000, to ever watch a USF women’s basketball game. Its 27 victories this season were the most in school history.
And USF had to win its championship the hard way – on the road. Its last three WNIT wins were at St. Bonaventure, at Boston College and then at Kansas.
Women’s basketball is a still a tough sell at a lot of schools – USF included. Here’s hoping that this historic win proves a breakthrough and maybe an inspiration to the USF men’s team – for whom an NIT invitation would be much more reward than consolation prize.