Women's Basketball

Marshall Women’s Basketball Begins NCAA Tournament Quest

2024 Division I NCAA Women’s Tournament Bracket
 
NEW ORLEANS – Marshall, which captured the 2024 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Women’s Basketball Championship, has earned the No. 13 seed in the Portland 3 Region of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. 
 
Marshall (26-6) will face fourth-seeded Virginia Tech (24-7) in the First Round.  
 
Marshall’s No. 13 seed marks the highest for a Sun Belt Conference team in the NCAA Tournament since Little Rock received the No. 12 seed in 2019. 
 
Marshall is making its second all-time NCAA tournament appearance and its first since 1997.
 
The Herd have put together a historic 2023-24 campaign. After being picked ninth out of 14 teams in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll, Marshall went 17-1 in league play en route to its Regular Season and Tournament Championships. In addition to breaking the program’s all-time record for wins in a season, the Herd went 24-2 over its last 26 games with a win over Florida and two wins over defending Sun Belt Conference Champion James Madison. 
 
In her first season at the helm, head coach Kim Caldwell has orchestrated a system at Marshall that incorporates a prolific offense and high-pressure defense that has led the Herd to numerous top-10 rankings in the NCAA: three-point attempts per game (1st, 31.2), three-pointers made per game (2nd, 10.8), turnovers forced per game (2nd, 24.0), scoring offense (3rd, 86.1), steals per game (3rd, 13.2), and offensive rebounds per game (9th, 15.7). In addition, the Herd hit the 90-point mark in 14 of its 32 contests in 2023-24, including in five of its last six outings. 
 
Individually, Marshall is led by Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Abby Beeman, who’s averaging 16.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game. Beeman is only one of two players in NCAA Division I to average at least 16 points, 6.0 assists, and 5.0 rebounds per game, the other is Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. The floor general is also one of only six players nationally to record multiple triple-doubles this season. 
 
Beeman is joined by Breanna Campbell, an All-Sun Belt Third Team honoree. Campbell is averaging 15 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game for the Herd. She also notched five games of 20 points or more, including a pair of 29-point performances against Jacksonville and Georgia Southern.