The men's basketball teams at BYU and Utah weren't the only teams in the state to get invitations to the NCAA tournament on Sunday afternoon. The University of Utah Lady Utes were awarded a spot in the NCAA women's tournament, as well.
Utah, the 12th and final seed in the West Regional, will meet Southern Cal, the fifth seed, Wednesday in Los Angeles, beginning at 5 p.m. MST.The Lady Utes, 20-9 overall and winners in 10 of their last 11 games, finished second in the Western Athletic Conference but advanced to the NCAA tournament by beating WAC champion Creighton in the finals of the conference postseason tournament Saturday afternoon in Laramie, Wyo.
Southern Cal, 17-11 overall, finished third in the Pac-10 with an 11-7 record. USC won two national championships during the 1980s. This year's team is led by 6-foot-5 center Lisa Leslie, who became the first freshman in Pac-10 history to make the all-Pac 10 first team. She averages 19.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
The winner of the Utah-USC game will meet fourth-seeded Cal State-Long Beach March 16 in Long Beach.
The Lady Utes, one of 48 teams in this year's tournament field, have made the NCAA tournament twice in the last three years but were eliminated in the first round both times.