Women’s basketball set to face Toledo in third round of WNIT

Staff Reports

The VCU women’s basketball team will compete in the third round of the WNIT for the second time in three seasons.

The Rams will visit Toledo Thursday night in the tournament’s “Sweet Sixteen” after knocking off Bowling Green and Saint Joseph’s in the first two rounds.

The team’s success is mostly thanks to senior guard Andrea Barbour, who hit back-to-back game-winning buckets in wins over Bowling Green and St. Joseph’s.

Barbour hit a game-winning layup at the buzzer to give VCU a 72-71 win over the Falcons last Thursday in the first round. She followed up Sunday evening by scoring the game’s final six points, including a layup with 0.7 seconds remaining in the Rams’ 67-65 overtime win over the Hawks in the second round.

Barbour and senior forward Courtney Hurt have combined for 105 of VCU’s 139 points in the tournament’s first two rounds.

Hurt’s double-double of 30 points and 17 rebounds against Bowling Green made her the school’s all-time leader with 56 double-doubles, passing former star Quanitra Hollingsworth on that list. She scored 49 points and pulled down 36 rebounds over the tournament’s first two games.

The winner of VCU and Toledo will face the winner of Temple and Syracuse in the WNIT’s Elite Eight.