MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team (24-7) opens play at the NCAA Tournament when they take on Columbia in the first round of March Madness on Saturday, March 22. Tipoff inside Carmicheal Arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is set for 2 p.m. ET.
 
The contest against Columbia will be broadcast on ESPNEWS with Angel Gray and Aja Ellison on the call. The game also can be heard on the Varsity Network app, with Andrew Caridi on the call. Live stats and game notes will be available on WVUsports.com.
 
The matchup with Columbia marks just the second time the two programs have met. The Mountaineers claimed the first and only meeting in 2007 by a final score of 74-41. The game was also played on a neutral floor as part of the FAU Holiday Classic.  
 
Head coach Mark Kellogg is the first WVU coach in program history to guide the Mountaineer women to the NCAA Tournament in both of their first two season. Kellogg will be coaching in the postseason event for the fourth time in his career.
 
The bid is West Virginia's 16th overall bid since 1989, and its eighth since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2013. WVU is 12-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Kellogg's 49 wins mark the most in a two-year span for a WVU head coach during their first two seasons in Morgantown. West Virginia finished with the fourth-best record in the Big 12 regular season at 13-5.
 
The Mountaineers are led in scoring by senior guard JJ Quinerly who averages 20.6 points per game. She has scored over 600 points in a season for the second straight year and is the only player in program history to hits the mark twice in a career. For her career she sits fourth in points scored 1,981 and is 20 points away from surpassing Bria Holmes (2013-16) for third with 2,001. Additionally, Quinerly ranks third in steals in program history with 320. She is looking to become the programs only player to score 2,000 career points and add 300+ career assists, steals and rebounds. 
 
Quinerly was named the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, an All-Big 12 First Team selection for the third time. Jordan Harrison earned her second straight all-conference honor this season after being named to third-team honors. Both Quinerly and Kyah Watson were two-of-five named to the conference's defensive team. Quinerly was a unanimous selection to both the first and defensive team as the Mountaineers had two features defensively for the second straight season.
 
WVU reached 13 Big 12 conference wins in a season for just the third time in 13 seasons. The five conference losses signify the second fewest in Big 12 play and the least since losing just two during the 2014 season.
 
Harrison (13.5) and junior guard Sydney Shaw (11.7) join Quinerly in pace the Mountaineers scoring production this season. Harrison's 4.5 assists per game leads WVU and ranks 10^th in the Big 12. Senior guard Kyah Watson has grabbed 7.5 rebounds per game which ranks seventh in the Big 12 while her 3.2 steals per game ranks first and Quinerly's 3.0 steals per game is second. Both steals' marks rank top 10 in the nation.
 
The Big 12's leaders in steals last season, Watson (98), Quinerly (89) and Harrison (66), are at it again this season averaging over two steals per contest to all rank inside the top five in the conference. Junior guard Sydney Shaw and Senior guard Sydney Woodley have also gotten in on the action with 54 and 50 steals this season, giving WVU five players with 50+ steals through 31 games.
 
The Mountaineers have forced 15+ turnovers in 63 of 64 games the last two seasons. This season WVU has recorded 20+ turnovers in 22 games, to average 23.7 per game. The mark ranks third in the nation. The Mountaineers have forced 30-plus turnovers in six games, including a season-high 44. WVU ranks second in the nation with 13.6 steals per game.
 
WVU finished the regular season the best defense in the conference. WVU led the Big 12 in scoring defense (54.4), steals (411), steal per game (14.2), turnovers forced (708) and turnover margin (+8.76).
 
As outright regular-season champions of the Ivy League, Columbia earned an at-large berth into the field. The Ivy League got three teams into this year's NCAA field for the first time in the conference's history. 

The Lions have won three consecutive Ivy League Regular Season Championships and tied a program record with 11 consecutive wins from December 21-February 14. Columbia picked up five wins over teams in this year's NCAA Tournament field and advanced to the Ivy League Tournament Championship Game for the third time in the last four years.