Texas State faces Stephen F. Austin WNIT

After officially earning an invitation to the 2023 WNIT on Sunday evening, Texas State learned on Monday it will play at Stephen F. Austin on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Nacogdoches, Texas in the first round of the postseason tournament.

Texas State and SFA are in Group 3 of the 64-team bracket. The winner of the matchup will face the winner of Arkansas and Louisiana Tech, who play on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville.

The Bobcats and Ladyjacks are former Southland Conference rivals and have faced one another 67 times in the two programs’ histories. However, the two have not met since 2014, which was in the WBI tournament.

The Bobcats (23-9) qualified for the WNIT after claiming a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular season championship, earning the conference tournament’s No. 2 seed, and reaching the conference tournament title game in Pensacola, Fla. on March 6.

SFA is 26-6 this season and finished second in the WAC regular season standings. The Ladyjacks reached the WAC tournament semifinals, where they lost to California Baptist.

This marks the third time Texas State has played in the WNIT, with the previous two occurrences being in 2008 and 2018. The Bobcats advanced to the second round in the 2008 WNIT and lost to Rice in the first round of the 2018 edition.

Texas State, under the leadership of Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Zenarae Antoine, has 23 wins this year, which are tied for the second-most in program history.