The
University of Florida received an at-large berth into the 2012 NCAA Division I
Women's Basketball Tournament, where the Gators earned the No. 9 seed and will
face eighth-seeded Ohio State (25-6) on Sunday, March 18 at the Stroh Center in
Bowling Green, Ohio. Tip-off is set for 12:15 p.m. ET and will be televised
live on ESPN2.
The
winner of that first round contest advances to the second round to play the
winner of the game between top-seeded Baylor (34-0) and 16th-seeded UC Santa
Barbara (17-15), which play 30 minutes after the conclusion of the
Gator-Buckeye game. That second round contest will be held on March 20 at 7
p.m. ET.
This
is the 13th time Florida (19-12) has earned a bid to compete in the NCAA
Championship, with the most recent selection coming in 2009 when the Gators
lost at overall No. 1-seed and eventual national champion Connecticut in the
second round played in Storrs, Conn. Florida sports a 10-11 all-time record in
NCAA play, with the best showing a Regional Final appearance in 1997.
Monday’s announcement placed Florida in a postseason tournament for the 18th time in the last 20 years, including all five seasons under head coach Amanda Butler, who became the first-ever Gator coach to guide the program to a postseason appearance in each of their first five years.
Florida’s
first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship came against Bowling Green on
Bowling Green’s campus in 1993 when Butler was in her junior year playing for
the Gators.
Sunday will be the first-ever meeting between the Gators and Buckeyes in women’s hoops action. Florida is 1-3 all-time against Baylor and 1-2 versus UC Santa Barbara.
