The Alabama women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2017 Women's National Invitation Tournament and will host Mercer in the first round on Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum.

General admission tickets are currently on sale for $5 on RollTide.com. Student admission is free with an Action Card. Tickets will also be on sale at the men’s basketball NIT game on Tuesday. The ticket office, located at the north entrance of Coleman Coliseum, will be open 90 minutes prior to tip on Thursday.

The Crimson Tide (19-13) is one of 33 teams that was awarded an at-large bid, joining the 31 automatic berths to make up the 64-team field. The Bears, who earned the automatic bid for the Southern Conference, finished the season with a 25-6 overall record and a trip to the SoCon tournament quarterfinals.

Alabama and Mercer will be meeting for the fourth time in series history on Thursday. The Tide owns a 2-1 advantage, however the Bears came away with the victory the last time the two teams met on Dec. 14, 2014.

Alabama is making its second straight appearance in the WNIT and sixth overall. The Tide also competed in the tournament in 2011 and in three consecutive seasons from 2000-02. UA holds an overall record of 5-5 in WNIT games.

First-round action in the WNIT tips off Wednesday, March 15 and concludes Friday, March 17.  Second-round games will run March 18-21, round three goes March 22-24, quarterfinals are March 25-27 and the semifinals will take place March 29-30. The championship game will be played on Saturday, April 1 and will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network at 2 p.m. CT. All games are hosted by participating schools.

Check out the full WNIT bracket here.

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