URI Women’s Basketball Focused on Getting First A10 Tournament Win Under Tammi Reiss
Rhode Island and Massachusetts concluded the 2022-23 regular-season campaign as Atlantic 10 Conference Women’s Basketball Co-Champions, each finishing with a 14-2 record within league competition. By virtue of a tiebreaker, UMass received the No. 1 overall seed and the Rams are set as No. 2 for next week’s A-10 Women’s Basketball Championship at CHASE Fieldhouse in Wilmington, De. The 15-team, single-elimination tournament tips off Wednesday, March 1 and will close with the championship final on Sunday, March 5.
Full A-10 Tournament Bracket
ESPN+ will stream Wednesday’s first-round games through Friday’s quarterfinals. CBS Sports Network will air the semifinals Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. while the championship final will get underway Sunday at noon via a national broadcast on ESPNU.
The Minutewomen closed out the year with a league-best 24-5 overall mark, winning the tiebreaker for the top overall seed against URI due to composite results versus Saint Louis and Fordham. UMass, who enters the championship as the defending title winners, receives a double-bye into the quarterfinals and will open play Friday, March 3 at 11:00 a.m.
In addition to UMass, second-seeded Rhode Island, No. 3 Saint Louis (10-6) and fourth-overall Fordham (10-6) earned double-byes into the quarterfinal round of the championship as well. Fordham follows the Minutewomen with a 1:30 p.m. tipoff on Friday with Rhody opening the second session at 5:00 p.m. and Saint Louis beginning at 7:30 p.m. Saint Louis locked down the third overall slot over Fordham via a head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to an 87-84 home victory against the Rams on Saturday, Jan. 28.
Seeds five through nine registered byes into the second round and will begin play Thursday. Richmond (8-6) notched fifth overall and will take on the winner of No. 12 Dayton (5-10) and No. 13 VCU (4-12) at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in the second round. The Flyers and Rams officially launch the championship with their first-round contest Wednesday at noon on ESPN+.
Sixth-seeded Saint Joseph’s (9-7) starts its run Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the first-round clash between No. 11 Davidson (6-8) and No. 14 St. Bonaventure (3-13). The matchup between the Wildcats and Bonnies tips off at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and will stream nationally via ESPN+.
George Washington (9-7) secured the No. 7 seed and will battle the victory between 10th-seeded Duquesne (8-8) and 15th-overall Loyola Chicago (1-15) at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday in the second round; the winner will face No. 2 Rhode Island in Friday’s quarterfinals matchup.
The Hawks garnered the sixth overall position over GW via a head-to-head tiebreaker, taking down the Colonials on Wednesday, Jan. 4 behind a 77-61 mark.
Eighth-seeded La Salle (8-7) squares off against No. 9 George Mason (8-8) at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday for the right to play top-seeded Massachusetts in the quarterfinals.
Mason secured the ninth overall slot over Duquesne via a head-to-head tiebreaker, downing the Dukes by a 61-45 margin on Sunday, Jan. 8.
The winner of the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which tips off Wednesday, March 15 with the First Four.
