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The Utah State women's basketball season is not over. The university announced on Monday night that it will accept a bid into the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) tournament.
The Aggies (17-14) were eliminated by UNLV in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament last week in Las Vegas. This winter, the Aggies won their most Mountain West games (nine) since the 2012-13 season, Jerry Finkbeiner's first as coach, They also won their opening-round game in the conference tournament against Air Force. The Aggies, who featured the youngest starting lineup in Division I during the regular season, will play at Idaho at 6:30 p.m. (Mountain) on Wednesday.
The Aggies are one of 16 mid-major teams participating in the WBI. This will be Utah State's first appearance in a postseason tournament since the 2012-13 season. The Aggies also played in the WBI that season.
The Aggies could be without freshman point guard Eliza West. West, the Mountain West's freshman of the year, went into the conference tournament with a hand injury. She played 25 minutes against Air Force, but played just 10 minutes in the loss to UNLV. Finkbeiner revealed after the game that the injury West had played through was a broken bone in her hand.
Idaho (17-14) placed fifth in the Big Sky Conference and lost in the quarterfinals of its conference tournament. Utah State and Idaho were both previously members of the Western Athletic Conference. Idaho leads the all-time series 13-12.