DALLAS – Conference USA women's basketball garnered three additional postseason bids on Monday night as Charlotte and Rice were announced as 2021 WNIT participants, and FIU was selected to compete in this year's WBI. 

WNIT Bracket
WBI Bracket

Charlotte (10-10) returns to postseason play for the 16th time in program history as the 49ers were tabbed as an at-large selection. The Niners will remain in the Queen City for the tournament’s Charlotte Region and square off against Florida in Friday’s opening round at Bojangles Coliseum, tipping at 4 p.m. CT on FloHoops.
 
Rice (18-4), who was an automatic qualifier, will play in the Fort Worth Regional and face Arizona State on Friday at 11 a.m. CT from the Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center. Rice will compete in the event for the ninth time in school history.

A loaded roster saw Charlotte collect the league's highest amount of all-conference selections in 2020-21, including a pair of first-team nods, two all-freshman picks, an all-defensive winner and C-USA Sixth Player of the Year in junior center Jazmin Harris. Head coach Cara Consuegra needs just one win to become the program's all-time winningest coach.

Rice claimed C-USA's West Division title at the conclusion of the regular season, and clinched a berth in the league title game for the second time in the last three years. The squad rosters three-time C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Nancy Mulkey. The senior center averaged 16.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks during league play while shooting 57.9 percent from the field. 

This is the 23rd year for the Postseason WNIT and the first year the event has bracketed only 32 teams since 2006, as tournament officials pared the event back because of COVID-19 issues. All WNIT games will be available via streaming through FloHoops. Every team will get at least two games in this year's event.
 
In addition to the WNIT selections, FIU (13-12) is slated to face off against Northern Arizona in the WBI on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT. The postseason appearance is the first for the program since 2013, when the Panthers took on the Florida Gators in the opening round of the WNIT.

Head coach Jesyka Burks-Wiley, the 2021 C-USA Coach of the Year, has led FIU to 13 victories in 2020-21, which is tied for the third-most in the country by a first-year head coach.

Each team will play three games in WBI play as part of a traditional tournament format. All games will be played at Kentucky State's William Exum Center in Frankfort.