Jazmine Jones

Jazmine Jones (15) Auburn women's basketball vs Kentucky on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017, in Auburn, Ala. (Dakota Sumpter/Auburn Athletics)

(Dakota Sumpter)

The Auburn women's basketball team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.

The Tigers (17-14) are a No. 11 seed and will face No. 6 seed N.C. State (22-8) in the first round at 11 a.m. Friday in Austin, Texas. The winner will play either No. 3 Texas or No. 14 Central Arkansas.

Auburn is one of eight SEC teams in the field along with Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

Auburn is coming off a loss to Georgia in the second round of the SEC Tournament. They started the season at 6-1 and entered the Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 23 in November, but closed the year by losing nine of the final 12 games.

It marks the second NCAA Tournament appearance of Terri Williams-Flournoy's five-year Auburn career. She led Auburn to the WNIT quarterfinals in her first season and the WNIT third round in her second season. Auburn missed the postseason in her third year.

Last season, the Tigers defeated St. John's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Baylor in the second round.

"The wait this year was a little bit tougher because of the way we felt ourselves," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said in a news release. "We felt so much disappointment in ourselves because of the way that we (finished the season). You look at the things we accomplished this year - being ranked in the top 25, beating Tennessee for the first time since 2009. Our RPI and our strength of schedule were unbelievable, we went out there and we played some of the toughest teams in the country. We were just doing everything (right), then at the end of the season it was like, 'Oh no. This is not supposed to happen.'

"I think the committee rewarded us for doing exactly what they want teams to do. And that's kudos to (senior woman administrator) Meredith Jenkins as well. Meredith kept emphasizing playing a tough schedule."

Auburn is led by senior Katie Frerking, who leads the team in points (15.9), rebounds (6.4), steals (2.6) and blocks (0.9) per game.

N.C. State is ranked 17th in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. Dominique Wilson leads the Wolfpack with 13.2 points per game.

"We've prepared like we're going to the NCAA Tournament," Frerking said. "We believed we were an NCAA team, and you've got to prepare for what's coming your way. The thing about the NCAA Tournament is, it's a big stage, but at the end of the day you're still playing a basketball game. I think we'll be able to focus on that considering the experience we have from last year."

Earlier Monday, ESPN's Charlie Creme projected Auburn to be a No. 12 seed against No. 5 Miami.