HENDERSON, Nev. — The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team will continue its season by facing California in the first round of the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament on Thursday, March 21 in Berkeley, Calif.
 
The bracket for the new 32-team event was announced on Sunday. The Rainbow Wahine (20-10) earned an automatic berth into the field as the Big West regular-season champion and will face the Golden Bears (18-14) at Haas Pavilion. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Pacific Time (4 p.m. Hawaii Time) and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
The first three rounds of the WBIT will be played at campus sites. The semifinals and final will be played at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 1 and April 3.
 
The winner of the UH-Cal game will advance to face St. Joseph's or Seton Hall in the second round on March 24.
 
UH will make its third straight postseason tournament appearance, eighth under head coach Laura Beeman, and 19^th overall. The 'Bows made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and 10 in the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
 
UH went 17-3 in Big West play this season and won its final seven regular-season games to claim the title for the second time in the last three seasons. The 'Bows reached the 20-win mark for the 17^th time in program history and fourth time in Beeman's 12-year tenure at UH. 

The team remained in Henderson following a loss to UC Davis on Friday in the semifinals of the Hercules Tires Big West Championship and will continue on to Berkeley for the WBIT matchup.
 
Cal went 7-11 in Pac-12 play to tie for eighth in the regular season. The Bears defeated Washington State in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament on March 6 then fell to Stanford.

UH is 6-20 in postseason play overall and last won a postseason game in 2001 when the 'Bows went 3-1 in the WNIT and advanced to the semifinals.
  
WBIT committee seeded only the top half of the 32-team field. The remaining 16 teams were placed into the bracket by the WBIT Committee as close to their area of natural interest as possible.
 
Preliminary WBIT games are being televised on ESPN+, while the semifinals will be on ESPNU, and the finals will be on ESPN2. Additional WBIT information can be found on ncaa.com/WBIT.