ATLANTA (May 22) - Georgia State's women's basketball team will open its 2013-14 season by participating in the Preseason WNIT it was announced by tournament organizers, Triple Crown Sports, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Panthers of Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener will be joined in the 16-team tournament field by:

·        Gonzaga – West Coast Conference power has won five consecutive NCAA bids

·        Idaho – WAC Vandals were 17-16 last season

·        IPFW – Summit League school returns all five starters

·        Louisville – Big East Cardinals finished national runner-up in 29-9 season, coming to ACC in 2014

·        Loyola Chicago – Horizon team won 17 games, moving to MVC

·        LSU – NCAA Sweet Sixteen SEC team won 22 games last year

·        Mount St. Mary's – Northeast Conference school won 15 games last year

·        North Carolina A&T – MEAC school coming off 22-win campaign

·        Oklahoma – Big 12 Sooners have earned 14 straight NCAA bids

·        Quinnipiac – New Metro Atlantic team was 30-2 in NCAA tournament season

·        Saint Joseph's – Atlantic 10 champ earned NCAA bid with 23-8 mark

·        Stephen F. Austin – Southland Conference school has won 15 league titles

·        Stetson – A-Sun school won 24 games to earn NCAA bid last season

·        UT-Martin – OVC team won fourth straight league title and NCAA bid

·        Wichita State – MVC school won 24 games to earn NCAA bid last year

Ten of the 16 teams in this year's field are coming off NCAA bids last season.

This marks the first time in the WNIT's history that Georgia State has been included in the preseason tournament field. A maximum of one team per conference can participate in the same year and no more than once in a four-year period. Georgia State did earn a bid to the WNIT postseason tournament in 2000.

 “We are extremely excited and pleased about the opportunity and the experience our team will get by playing in the preseason WNIT,” coach Baldwin-Tener said.  “It certainly will be a real challenge for our basketball team and will give us a focus through the summer workouts.  I personally have never coached in the preseason WNIT and welcome the event to our schedule.”

The Preseason WNIT features a three-game guarantee format. The event opens on Friday, November 8th with first round games. The eight winners of the first round advance on in bracket format. The other eight teams move into consolation brackets with two four-team quad brackets set up. Second round games will be played November 10th and 11th. Those four winners advance in the main bracket and the four others move into another consolation bracket. Semifinal games will then be played November 14th and the championship is set for Sunday, November 17th on CBS.   Teams that fall to the consolation bracket after round one will play again on Nov. 15th or 16th.

All games in the WNIT are hosted by participating schools.

In last year's Preseason WNIT, North Carolina of the ACC beat Iowa of the Big Ten. The 29-7 and No.13-ranked Tar Heels were upset by Delaware in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, while the 21-win Hawkeyes lost in the second round to Notre Dame. The previous year, No. 1 Baylor defeated No. 2 Notre Dame in a preview of the eventual national championship game.

Last year, Delaware was the CAA representative and Middle Tennessee represented the Sun Belt. The previous year Drexel was chosen for the preseason tournament and then this past season won the postseason WNIT championship.

The complete WNIT bracket with game sites and times is expected to be released in June.

Georgia State returns eight letterwinners from last year's squad, plus all-conference transfer guard Alisha Andrews to go with the new recruiting class as the team begins play in the Sun Belt Conference.