STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford earned its 31st consecutive NCAA Tournament bid when the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Committee announced the field Monday.
The Cardinal (22-10), seeded fourth, was placed in the Lexington Region. As one of the nation's top 16 overall seeds, Stanford will host first and second-round games in Maples Pavilion on Saturday, March 17 and Monday, March 19. The Cardinal will open its 32nd overall NCAA postseason with No. 13 Gonzaga (27-5) at 3 p.m. PT on Saturday in a game televised on ESPN2. No. 5 Missouri (24-7) and No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast (30-4) will play in the other first-round matchup at 12:30 p.m. PT with the winners meeting in Monday's second-round contest at a time to be determined.
Women's basketball Season Ticket Members (STMs) should request postseason tickets by logging into their online Athletics Ticketing account. STMs must request tickets by Monday, March 12 at 11:59 p.m. PT in order to be considered for priority seating.
All other fans can purchase tickets beginning Tuesday, March 13 at 9 a.m. PT by visiting gostanford.com/tickets or by calling (800)-STANFORD (option 4). All-session prices are $50 for lower reserved, $40 for upper reserved, $25 for upper adult general admission and $15 for upper student/youth/senior general admission. Single-day tickets cost $30 for lower reserved, $25 for upper reserved, $15 for upper adult general admission and $10 for upper student/youth/senior general admission.
All Stanford students are able to attend for free and should scan their SUID in the northeast corner of Maples Pavilion. Additional details will be shared via the Red Alert email.
As a city, Stanford, Calif. has served as a host for 65 NCAA Tournament games, the third-most behind Knoxville, Tenn. (82) and Norfolk, Va. (67). Each of those games has been played in Maples Pavilion, which has hosted more NCAA Tournament games than any other facility except Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena (66).
The Cardinal is 34-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament games at Maples Pavilion and has won 14 straight. This season will be the 21st in which Stanford has hosted NCAA Tournament games in Maples Pavilion since staging its first in 1989 and the 20th in which the Cardinal has opened up its postseason at home.
Stanford earned its 31st consecutive and 32nd overall NCAA Tournament bid via an at-large selection into the field. Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won two national championships (1990, 1992), reached 13 Final Fours (1990-92, 1995-97, 2008-12, 2014, 2017), 19 Elite Eights, 24 Sweet 16s and compiled an NCAA Tournament record of 84-29 (.743).
Stanford's 13 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 32 overall appearances rank third behind only Tennessee (37 appearances) and Georgia (33 appearances).
Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 31. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 37 NCAA Tournaments. The Cardinal's 84 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Tennessee (124) and Connecticut (113) as are its 113 tournament games. Tennessee has appeared in 152 and Connecticut 131.
The Cardinal is a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third time. It advanced to the Sweet 16 from the same position in 2015 and the Elite Eight as a No. 4 seed in 2016. No. 4 seeds are 224-144 all-time in the tournament.