UCLA players say WNIT run highlights gender inequality in college basketball
When UCLA junior guard Charisma Osborne scored 31 points during a win at Oregon State that vaulted the Bruins into the WNIT Final Four, it locked in another costly, grueling day of travel. After 13 hours of travel to get to Brookings, S.D., funded by UCLA, she wasn’t going to let the moment pass without pointing out the inequity of the WNIT that gets far less financial support than the men’s NIT. “Just talking with the team, I think it’s important to just bring awareness,” she said before the Bruins played South Dakota State. “So that people in the future can have better opportunities than what we have right now.”
By Marisa Ingemi
When UCLA junior guard Charisma Osborne scored 31 points during a win at Oregon State that vaulted the Bruins into the WNIT Final Four, it locked in another costly, grueling day of travel.
After 13 hours of travel to get to Brookings, S.D., funded by UCLA, she wasn’t going to let the moment pass without pointing out the inequity of the WNIT that gets far less financial support than the men’s NIT.
“Just talking with the team, I think it’s important to just bring awareness,” she said before the Bruins played South Dakota State. “So that people in the future can have better opportunities than what we have right now.”
Osborne tweeted after that game, “This needs way more attention! It took us 3 different flights resulting in 13 hours of travel to get to Oregon. There’s no reason the WNIT shouldn’t be receiving the same benefits as the men! Why does the @NCAA own the Men’s NIT but not the @WomensNIT ? Women deserve better!”