JMU Earns No. 1 Seed in Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS – James Madison women's basketball is set to compete in the 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament as a No. 1 seed and will host Davidson on Thursday, March 20. Tip time is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.

The Dukes have made a postseason tournament 24 times, with 13 appearances at the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships, nine outings at the Women's National Invitation Tournament and now two seasons competing in the WBIT. Last season, JMU was named a No. 1 seed in the first edition of the WBIT, falling to Stony Brook 81-70 in Harrisonburg.

The winner of JMU versus Davidson (19-13, 13-5 A10) will face the victor of No. 4 Drake (22-11, 15-5 MVC) against Marquette (20-10, 12-6 BIG EAST) in the second round. The Dukes are 3-0 all-time versus the Wildcats, and notched a 64-49 win over Davidson in the first round of the WNIT inside the Convocation Center in 2012.

The WBIT is the newest annual 32-team postseason invitation for women's basketball, which is owned and funded by the NCAA. The selection committee is made up of five former DI women's basketball coaches and three current/former Division I athletic administrators.

Preliminary round games (first, second and quarterfinal rounds) will be played at campus sites. The WBIT semifinals and finals will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis. The top 16 seeds, as determined by the selection committee, will host first round games provided they submit a bid and meet the minimum hosting requirements.

All preliminary round games will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The semifinal games will air on ESPNU and the championship game will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Semifinal games will be played on Monday, March 31 with the first semifinal game starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. The WBIT championship game will be played on Wednesday, April 2 at 6 p.m. ET.

Tickets for Thursday's game will go on sale at noon on Monday. Student tickets are free and can be reserved through the normal student ticket process at student.jmutickets.com starting at noon on Monday as well.

Calendar