Florida women’s basketball to face St. John's to open March Madness in 2024 WBIT Tournament

For the fourth year in a row, the Florida women's basketball team is heading for postseason play.

The Gators (16-15) gained a No. 3 seed in the inaugural WBIT Tournament and will host St. John's (17-14) in the first round. Tipoff is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at the O'Connell Center.

In coach Kelly Rae Finley's third season, the Gators got off to a solid start and sat at 9-3 heading into SEC play.

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However, an injury to third leading scorer Ra Shaya Kyle doomed the Gators. They eventually lost five of their last six regular-season games and finished with a 5-9 SEC record and a 14-14 overall mark.

UF, though, secured two SEC Tournament wins, including an upset of sixth-ranked Vanderbilt before a tight loss to No. 3 seed Ole Miss.

The Gators are led by SEC top-five leading scorer Aliyah Matharu and SEC Sixth Woman of the Year Leilani Correa.

Two years ago, the Gators gained their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2016 before a first round loss to 10th-seeded UCF.

Last season, UF advanced to the WNIT round of eight after upset wins at Wake Forest and Clemson before a loss at Bowling Green.

The Florida-St. John's winner faces either No. 2 seed Toledo (26-5) or Cleveland State (29-5) next Sunday.

The WBIT is a new tournament created by the NCAA. It supplements the WNIT as the second most prestigious women's college basketball tournament, behind the NCAA Tournament. The final is set for April 3 at 7 p.m. from Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on ESPN2.

Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.