ST. LOUIS – The Saint Louis University women's basketball team will make the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history against one of women's college basketball's most successful programs when the Billikens take on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in first-round action Saturday, March 18, at UT's Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. Tip time is slated for 12:06 p.m. Central on ABC.
 
Fans wishing to make a deposit to purchase tickets in the Saint Louis team block for Saturday's game may click here to do so.
 
Saint Louis (17-17, 10-6 A-10), which earned the Atlantic 10 Conference's automatic NCAA bid by winning the A-10 tournament, is the No. 13 seed in the Seattle 3 Region. The Billikens, who tied for third in the A-10 after being selected 12th in the league's preseason coaches' poll, enter the NCAA Tournament having won 11 of their last 12 games including victories over second-seeded Rhode Island and top-seeded Massachusetts in the A-10 Championship semifinals and final, respectively.
 
Southeastern Conference member Tennessee (23-11, 13-3 SEC), ranked 23rd in the most recent Associated Press poll and the No. 4 seed in Seattle 3, placed third in the SEC behind only top-10 teams South Carolina and LSU. The Lady Vols defeated Kentucky and LSU in the SEC tournament quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, before falling to defending national champion and NCAA Tournament No. 1 overall seed South Carolina in the final.
 
The winner of the Saint Louis-Tennessee game faces the winner of the game matching fifth-seeded Iowa State and 12th-seeded Toledo in the round of 32 on Monday, March 20.
 
SLU features a pair of All-Atlantic 10 second-team selections in fifth-year forward/center Brooke Flowers and senior guard Kyla McMakin. Flowers was selected the A-10's co-Defensive Player of the Year and is a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. She was joined on the league's All-Defensive team by senior guard Julia Martinez, who earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the A-10 Championship.
 
For Tennessee, senior guard Jordan Horston and senior forward Rickea Jackson were chosen to the All-SEC first team.
 
When Saint Louis won the A-10 tournament crown, first-year head coach Rebecca Tillett became just the second coach in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to lead teams in two different leagues to a conference tournament title in consecutive seasons. Tillett guided Longwood to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
 
Tennessee's Kellie Harper is one of only two coaches to guide four different Division I women's programs to the NCAA Tournament, doing so at Western Carolina, North Carolina State, Missouri State and Tennessee. The Tennessee alum played on three of the Lady Vols' eight national championship teams.
 
The Billikens and Lady Vols have met just once before. Fourth-ranked Tennessee defeated SLU in the San Juan Shootout championship game on Dec. 1, 2002.
 
Additional media coverage information will be announced in the coming days. Check back on SLUBillikens.com for the latest information.