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CHAMPAIGN, Ill -- For the first time since 2003, Illinois women's basketball (22-9) is going dancing. The Illini have earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, competing in a First Four game for the No. 11 seed following a historic 2022-23 regular-season campaign.

Illinois will take on Mississippi State (20-10) in the play-in game on Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. The play-in game and the opening two rounds of play will be hosted by 3-seed Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The winner of the play-in game will take on 6-seed Creighton on Friday.

In head coach Shauna Green's first year with the program, Illinois took the Big Ten by storm, finishing the regular season with an 11-7 conference mark, a one-year turnaround that matched the all-time Big Ten record, and a 21-8 overall mark.

The Illini began the season on a six-game winning streak, the program's best start to a campaign since 1986-87. Illinois went on to finish 10-1 in its regular-season non-conference schedule, a mark that tied the all-time school record.

After narrowly dropping their Big Ten opener on the road to the eventual regular-season conference champions, the Illini strung together four straight Big Ten wins, a streak that included a win over No. 12/10 and eventual Big Ten Women's Basketball champion Iowa and tied the fourth-longest conference winning streak in Illinois history.

Eventually finishing tied for fifth in the Big Ten, Illinois earned the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, the team's highest seeding since 2013. The Illini then took down 11th-seeded Rutgers in the second round to secure their largest Big Ten Tournament win in program history and their first quarterfinals berth since 2011.

Four Illini earned all-conference honors for their regular-season campaigns: Makira Cook (All-B1G first team), Genesis Bryant (All-B1G second team), Kendall Bostic (All-B1G second team and B1G sportsmanship award), and Adalia McKenzie (All-B1G honorable mention). The team's four All-Big Ten honorees matches the single-season program record, which was first achieved during the 1986-87 season.

This will be the Illini's ninth NCAA Tournament appearance, while Illinois is 8-8 all-time across its 16 tournament games.