After not appearing in the NCAA tournament from 2000 through 2019, Alabama’s women’s basketball team has been selected for its second tournament in the past three seasons.

The Tide was announced Sunday evening as the No. 10 seed in the Seattle 3 region and will meet No. 7 seed Baylor in Storrs, Connecticut in Saturday’s first round game. The tip-off time has yet to be announced.

If Alabama advances to the second round, it will play the winner of No. 2 seed UConn and No. 15 seed Vermont.

Alabama enters the NCAA tournament with a 20-10 record, having lost its past four games. It finished 9-7 in the SEC, the program’s best mark since 1997-98. That earned the Tide a No. 6 seed in the SEC tournament earlier this month, but Alabama was upset by No. 14 seed Kentucky in the second round, 71-58.

Alabama’s late-season slide, which came after it received Associated Press top-25 votes mid-season, left the Tide as one of the “last four byes” in ESPN’s tournament projection before Sunday.

The Tide is led by fifth-year guard Brittany Davis, who finished fourth in the SEC in scoring (17.3 points per game) and was named first-team All-SEC.

Two years ago, Alabama qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. The No. 7 seed Tide defeated North Carolina in the first round before falling to Maryland in the second round to end its 2021 run.

The program last advanced to the Sweet 16 of an NCAA tournament in 1998.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.