The Coppin State women's basketball team will travel to West Virginia in the opening round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament on Thursday (March 19) to face the Mountaineers.

The Eagles earned a spot in the 48-team field by virtue of their second-place finish in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season standings. Thirty-one conferences received an automatic berth into the field, including the MEAC, with the spot being awarded to the team that finished the highest in the regular-season standings that did not advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Coppin State (14-14, 12-4 MEAC) will be making its fifth consecutive trip to the postseason, which marks the longest such streak in the history of MEAC women's basketball. The Eagles advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2007-08 and appeared in the WNIT following the 2006-07 season.

In its only previous trip to the WNIT in 2007, Coppin State posted a 1-1 record. The Eagles recorded the first postseason victory in school history by defeating St. Joseph's 67-52 before losing to South Florida 56-49 in the second round.

The Eagles are led by First Team All-MEAC performer Whitney Cunningham who averaged 12.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Cunningham, who was named the MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the MEAC in rebounding, blocked shots and field goal percentage.

Fellow senior Danielle Anders topped the Eagles averaging 12.7 points per game, while also averaging 4.5 rebounds per contest.

This will mark the fifth meeting between the two teams with the Mountaineers having won all four previous games.

The winner of the game will advance to the second round to meet St. Bonaventure on Sunday (March 22).