Minnesota WBIT Champions; Defeats Belmont 75-63 to wins WBIT 2025 Championship, schedule, bracket, scores for women's basketball tournament.
The Belmont women's basketball team's hope of claiming the school's first national championship was dashed Wednesday as it lost to Minnesota 75-63 in the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament title game in Indianapolis.
- The University of Minnesota women's basketball team (25-11, 8-10 B1G) defeated Belmont (26-9, 17-3 MVC) 75-63 at Hinkle Fieldhouse Wednesday night, winning the 2025 WBIT Championship.
McKinney led the Golden Gophers with a new career high 26 points and three steals. Heyer tacked on her seventh double-double this season with 18 points and 16 rebounds and Battle helped out with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
McKinney was named WBIT Tournament MVP while earning All-Tournament team honors alongside Battle.
The Minnesota offense made hay from three-point land, pouring in nine threes on 23 attempts. McKinney hit four treys for the Gophers in the contest.
The Minnesota defense held Belmont shooters to only 33.3 percent from the field, including 26.3 percent from three-point range. The Gophers also kept Tuti Jones to 3-of-14 shooting in the game. The Bruins did not get many second opportunities on the offensive end, as they grabbed only four offensive rebounds and scored four second chance points while Minnesota pulled down 34 defensive rebounds.
___
The Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament announced the 32 teams and bracket for the 2025 tournament featuring Missouri State, a three seed in the tournament.
It is the second year of the WBIT, which has replaced the WNIT as the second-tier women's basketball postseason tournament. The WBIT field includes any regular-season conference champion that did not make the Women's NCAA Tournament.
The first four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament get automatic bids and make up the top four seeds.
The tournament gets started March 20 with first-round games and quarterfinals being held March 27. The first three rounds will be at the site of the higher seeds. The WBIT semifinals and championship games will be at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 31 and April 2.
The 32 team field for the 2025 WBIT (in alphabetical order)
Albany
Arizona
Belmont
Boston College
Colorado
Davidson
Drake
Florida
Gonzaga
Hawaii
James Madison
Marquette
Middle Tennessee
Minnesota
Missouri State
North Carolina A&T
Northern Arizona
Northern Iowa
Oral Roberts
Portland
Quinnipiac
Saint Joseph's
Seton Hall
Southeastern Louisiana
Stanford
Texas Tech
Toledo
UNLV
UTSA
Villanova
Virginia Tech
Wyoming
When is 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament: WBIT Dates
The first round of the 2025 NIT will begin on March 16 and will run until the championship game on April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The first round, second round and quarterfinals will be played at campus sites. The semifinal and final will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
WBIT first round: Thursday, March 20
WBIT second round: Sunday, March 23
WBIT quarterfinals: Thursday, March 27
WBIT semifinals: Monday, March 31 (2:30 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET)
WBIT championship game: Wednesday, April 2 (9 p.m. ET)
WBIT 2025 bracket, semifinals schedule, scores game times, tv channels, streaming
(All Times Eastern)
Tuesday, March 20
Marquette 74, Drake 69
Virginia Tech 61, N.C. A&T 45
James Madison 77, Davidson 50
Saint Joseph's 69, UAlbany 40
Villanova 76, Boston College 70
Seton Hall 57, Quinnipiac 40
Minnesota 65, Toledo 53
Florida 83, UNI 71
Missouri St. 107, Oral Roberts 76
Belmont 64, Middle Tenn. 51
Texas Tech 65, Wyoming 48
Colorado 73, Southeastern La. 41
Gonzaga 67, UTSA 51
Northern Ariz. 71, Arizona 69
UNLV 63, Hawaii 46
Portland 69, Stanford 68 (OT)
WBIT 2025 second round bracket, schedule, scores game times, tv channels, streaming
WBIT second round: Sunday, March 23
Villa Nova 62, Saint Joseph's 60
Belmont 81, Northern Ariz. 80
Gonzaga 64, Colorado 55
Minnesota 78, Missouri St. 71
Portland 61, Seton Hall 55
James Madison 80, Marquette 76
Texas Tech 69, Virginia Tech 59
Florida 86, UNLV 84
WBIT 2025 bracket, schedule, scores, quarterfinal game times, tv channels, streaming
WBIT quarterfinals: Thursday, March 27 | ESPN+
Florida 67, Texas Tech 63
Belmont 90, James Madison 45
Villanova 71, Portland 61
Minnesota 82, Gonzaga 77 (OT)
WBIT 2025 bracket, schedule, scores, semifinal game times, tv channels, streaming
WBIT semifinals: Monday, March 31 (2:30 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET) | ESPNU
1. Belmont 66, Villanova, 57
2. Minnesota 66, Florida 52
When is the 2025 WBIT championship game? Time, Date, TV, Streaming
WBIT championship game: Wed, April 2 | Belmont 63 - 75 Minnesota. | 9 p.m. ET | ESPNU
How to watch 2025 WBIT Tournament
All 2025 WBIT games will be on ESPN+ and ESPNU.
WBIT first round: ESPN+
WBIT second round: ESPN+
WBIT quarterfinals: ESPN+
WBIT semifinals: ESPNU
WBIT championship game: ESPNU
____
0 Comments