by By Jay Koester / El Paso Times , El Paso Times

UTEP will begin the 16-team tournament playing at Florida Gulf Coast at 5 p.m. on Nov. 13. The winner of the game will take on the winner of the New Mexico and Northern Colorado game, at a site to be determined.

"We are honored and thrilled to be playing in the Preseason WNIT," head coach Keitha Adams said in a news release. "It is a great field of teams, and it will be very challenging. I feel great about the progress our program is making, and we are looking forward to the opportunity." Each team in the field will be guaranteed to play three games with the eight first-round winners advancing in traditional bracket play until the championship game on Nov. 22.

The first-round losers drop to the first consolation bracket, forming two four-team pools and play two more games to guarantee the three contests. The quarterfinal losers from the winners' bracket fall to a second consolation bracket for their third games.

All games will be played at campus sites and will be announced after each round.

The field includes 11 teams that advanced to postseason play last year. The complete field, along with 2008-09 final record/conference record is as follows:

Arkansas-Little Rock: 26-7, 16-2 Sun Belt Bowling Green: 29-5, 15-1 MAC Chicago State: 16-13, Independent Eastern Illinois: 24-9, 15-3 OVC Florida Gulf Coast: 26-5, 17-3 A-Sun Georgia Tech: 22-10, 8-6 ACC Marist: 29-4, 16-2 MAAC New Mexico: 25-11, 9-7 MWC North Carolina A&T: 26-7, 15-1 MEAC Northern Colorado: 12-18, 5-11 Big Sky Ohio State: 29-6, 15-3 Big Ten Oklahoma State: 17-16, 4-12 Big 12 Towson: 17-13, 8-10 CAA UTEP: 18-12, 11-5 C-USA West Virginia: 18-15, 5-11 Big East Winthrop: 16-16, 9-7 Big South

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