Blue Hens women earn short trip vs. tough foe in NCAA Tournament

Delaware was given a short trip but a huge challenge in the first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

When the 68-team bracket was revealed on ESPN Sunday night, the Blue Hens (24-7) were seeded 13th and will play No. 4 Maryland (21-8) at the Terps' Xfinity Center in College Park on Friday. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. and the game is airing on ESPNU.

Delaware players and coaches watched the selections on the Carpenter Center video board with fans joining them, just five hours after securing a tourney berth.

"We haven't even had time to sit down and digest this," coach Natasha Adair said. "I'm sure when I get home this evening it'll all sink in and probably the waterworks will come."

Delaware is 0-13 all-time against Maryland, losing most recently 99-55 early in the 2019-20 season.

But that was a UD team that went 12-17, before the Blue Hens improved to become CAA regular-season champs in 2021 and, on Sunday, qualified for the 2022 NCAA Tournament by beating Drexel in the Colonial Athletic Association title game 65-59.

"We're working hard," said Delaware swing guard Jasmine Dickey, the two-time CAA Player of the Year, "and I think we're together as a team and we feed off of each other's energy. I think energy's a big thing for us. We could see it when we played [at Drexel] . . . We just gotta take that with us to Maryland."

Earlier Sunday night, the UD men learned they would face Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at 2:45 p.m. in Pittsburgh. It's the first time Delaware's men's and women's teams have gone to NCAAs in the same season.

This is Delaware's fifth trip to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament berth, the others coming in 2001 as America East champ, 2007 as an at-large choice and 2012 and 2013 as CAA champion. The 2013 team, led by All-American Elena Delle Donne, beat West Virginia and North Carolina at the Carpenter Center to reach the Sweet 16 before losing to Kentucky in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

"It's a dream true," Adair said of getting the Blue Hens back in her fifth year as coach.

Delaware will also hope to benefit from the experience it gained in last year's run to the WNIT Final Four.

"We have a will and a confidence right now that is pretty much unstoppable," Adair said. " . . . I think we're prepped, primed and ready for whoever."

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Blue Hens play Maryland in NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament