Women's tournament returns to Columbus for ninth time

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee announced on July 6 that Ohio State University and Nationwide Arena have been selected as a first- and second-round host site for the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. It will be the ninth time that Columbus has hosted women's NCAA Tournament games.

Columbus is one of eight host cities for the 2009 tournament. Other sites include Albuquerque, N.M., Baton Rouge, La., College Park, Md., Duluth, Ga., Lubbock, Texas, Los Angeles and Piscataway, N.J. The first- and second-round sites will host games either Saturday, March 21and Monday, March 23 or Sunday, March 22 and Tuesday, March 24, 2009. The 2009 Women's Final Four will be played in St. Louis.

Ohio State last played host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament in 2004. OSU welcomed Boston College, Eastern Michigan and West Virginia to St. John Arena March 20 and 22. The Buckeyes advanced to the second round with a 73-67 victory over the Mountaineers, but were bounced from the tournament in the second round by Boston College, 63-48. That same season, the 2004 NCAA Men's Tournament played first and second round games at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus.

Including the 2004 season, Columbus has played host to women's NCAA first-and second-round contests eight times, with all games played at St. John Arena. Ohio State played second-round games at St. John in 1993, 1989, 1988 and 1986. The Buckeyes also played at home for first-round games in 1990, 1985 and 1984.

2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Site/Host(s):

The Pit/Bob King Court (15,932)/ University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pete Maravich Assembly Center (13,394)/ Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Comcast Center (17,950)/ University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Arena at Gwinnett (13,100)/ University of Georgia, Duluth, Georgia
United Spirit Arena (15,098)/ Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Galen Events Center (10,244)/ University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Louis Brown Athletic Center (8,000)/ Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
2009 NCAA Tournament Regional Sites/Hosts: The following regional sites will host games either Saturday, March 28, and Monday, March 30 or Sunday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 31, 2009:
Haas Pavilion (11,896)/ University of California, Berkeley, California
Ford Center (18,929)/ Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
RBC Center (19,722)/ North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
Sovereign Bank Arena (8,500)/ Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference & Trenton, New Jersey Rider University
The exact dates for the sites will be announced at a later date.

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