Zips basketball: Women head to Pittsburgh in WNIT

From a UA news release:

AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron women's basketball team will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. Thursday, March 21, to take on Duquesne in the first round of the 2013 Women's National Invitation Tournament.

The Zips received an at-large bid to the 64-team tournament after posting a program-best 23-9 overall record and a 12-4 mark in the Mid-American Conference. UA won nine out of its last 10 regular season games before going on a run in the league tournament and making its first ever appearance in a MAC title game, falling to Central Michigan 86-68.

Duquesne also received an at-large bid out of the Atlantic-10 Conference with an overall mark of 23-7 and an 11-3 record in the league. The Dukes fell to Saint Joseph's in the A-10 Tournament quarterfinal round, 73-60. Duquesne is 12-2 this season on its home floor at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

Akron is 1-4 all-time versus Duquesne, most recently completing a home-and-away series over the last two seasons. The Zips lost to the Dukes 77-70 on Dec. 14, 2011 at James A. Rhodes Arena, and fell 69-58 on the road on Dec. 1, 2010.

The winner of Thursday's contest will move on to face the winner of Bowling Green and SMU, taking place the same day at BGSU's Stroh Center.