Texas A&M to Host 2013 NCAA Women's Basketball First and Second Rounds

INDIANAPOLIS - Texas A&M University's Reed Arena was selected as one of 16 sites for the first and second rounds of the 2013 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee announced Monday.

A&M will host first and second round games at Reed Arena either Saturday, March 23, and Monday, March 25, or Sunday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Exact dates will be determined in June 2012.

"Hosting the NCAA Women's Basketball First and Second Rounds is the result of a lot of hard work by our staff, coaches, and student-athletes," said Bill Byrne, Director of Athletics. "I'm excited to be able to bring this championship to Aggieland in back-to-back years. It's a nice reward for our student-athletes and the community of Bryan-College Station."

Next month, Texas A&M will be the only site in the state of Texas to host the first and second rounds of the 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. The Aggies host for the first time since the 1994 NCAA Tournament, when the first round was held in G. Rollie White Coliseum.

The 2013 event will mark the second straight year for A&M to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament under its current bid format. Texas A&M is one of just four institutions in the nation that will host first and second round games in both 2012 and 2013 and will be one of three Southeastern Conference schools to host next year.

"We're able to be chosen twice in a three-year period and I think the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee has done a good job selecting the sites," said A&M head coach Gary Blair. "I think they went back to the basics and selected basketball towns where nearly every team that is hosting in 2013 will be in the NCAA Tournament this year. I think the attendance records will be blown out of the water at these sites. The state of Texas is host to three sites and no other state has more than one. That really tells you where basketball is in the state.

"I'm super fired up for our team. This really shows the commitment that our administration has made to women's basketball here at Texas A&M. It is much appreciated and now it's our job as coaches and players to make sure we're in the tournament each year."

The Aggies made their sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance under Blair in 2011 and won their first national championship in program history in their first-ever trip to the NCAA Women's Final Four.

"As a committee we are excited that in 2013 our championship will be hosted by institutions from nine different conferences, with Delaware and St. John's hosting for the first time," said Greg Christopher, director of athletics at Bowling Green State University and chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee. "Having this geographic blend of sites is important to the committee as we continue to grow the game of women's basketball."

The following first- and second-round sites will host games either Saturday, March 23, and Monday, March 25 or Sunday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 26, 2013 (dates to be determined in June 2012):

Site	Host(s)
Pete Maravich Assembly Center	Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Coors Events Center	University of Colorado, Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Comcast Center	University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, Maryland
Reed Arena	Texas A&M University, College Station
College Station, Texas
St. John Arena	The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Cameron Indoor Stadium	Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Carver Hawkeye Arena	University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Thompson Boling Arena	University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
KFC Yum! Center	University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
United Spirit Arena	Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Bob Carpenter Center	University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware
Carnesecca Arena	St. John's (N.Y.) University
Queens, New York
McCarthey Athletic Center	Gonzaga University
Spokane, Washington
Maples Pavilion	Stanford University
Stanford, California
Gampel Pavilion	University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
Ferrell Center	Baylor University
Waco, Texas

The following regional sites will host games either Saturday, March 30 and Monday, April 1 or Sunday, March 31 and Tuesday, April 2, 2013 (dates to be determined in June, 2012):

Site Host(s)
Ted Constant Center	Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Virginia
Chesapeake Energy Arena	TBD
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena	Washington State University
Spokane, Washington
Sun National Bank Arena	Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Trenton, New Jersey