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Provo • Having been denied a school-record fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament after losing in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament last week, BYU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the Women's National Invitation Tournament on Monday.

The Cougars will play host to the Pac-12's Washington State on Thursday at the Marriott Center. Tipoff times for all the games in the 64-team tournament will be announced Tuesday.

The winner of the BYU-WSU game will face the winner of the Seattle-at-Wyoming game, which will also be played Thursday.

Unlike the men's NIT, the WNIT groups teams geographically. The other four teams in BYU's quadrant are Utah, UC Davis, Colorado State and Saint Mary's.

The Gaels eliminated the Cougars in the WCC tournament after the teams tied for second place in the league, a game behind Gonzaga, which got the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Washington State went 12-19 overall and 6-12 in the Pac-12. BYU went 20-11 overall and 13-5 in the West Coast Conference. —

Washington State at BYU

P WNIT, first round, Thursday, time TBD