Auburn’s women’s basketball players celebrated when they heard their postseason fate.

When the news flashed across a television screen in head coach Nell Fortner’s home — AU was in the NCAA Tournament — the Tigers cheered. They clapped. They hugged.

Head coach Nell Fortner called it “pure joy.”

They had plenty to celebrate. The Tigers are in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in eight seasons and the first in four years under Fortner.

“It is a huge step for us,” Fortner said.

But the time for celebration is over. Now, the Tigers will get down to business.

Auburn (20-11) opens the tournament today in Stanford, Calif. The 11th-seeded Tigers face No. 6 seed George Washington (25-6) at 1 p.m.

“It’s totally different from anything they have had during the year,” Fortner said of her players. “Every step is a new step for them and it is going to be an exciting step. Hopefully we can add some wins to that step.”

This year’s big step didn’t come easily. Auburn earned its postseason berth, recovering from the academics-related loss of starting point guard Whitney Boddie in midseason and the season-long absence of ineligible center KeKe Carrier.

Before Boddie was declared academically ineligible in late December, AU was a top-25 team. The Tigers started 9-0, including two road wins over ranked teams.

And though the 2007-08 season is her best yet at AU — including a 7-7 finish in the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA tourney appearance — Fortner can’t help but imagine what her team could have been with Boddie and Carrier.

“It is real hard to not think about it — I’m just human,” she said. “Whitney Boddie was having an all-conference year, and I think KeKe Carrier is potentially a player that nobody else has.

“You can sit around and think about that all you want, and it’ll drive you nuts. It is what it is.”

And though Boddie and Carrier won’t be in uniform today, it’s not as if the Tigers don’t have talented players.

Forward DeWanna Bonner was the SEC’s second-leading scorer this season. The 6-foot-4 junior averaged 18.5 points per game.

Fortner believes Bonner — and talented teammates like guard Sherell Hobbs and freshman point guard Alli Smalley — might be even better in the postseason.

“When you get into a tournament situation, you never know who is going to step up,” Fortner said. “You can’t do that for them, they have to do that for themselves because this is what we work all year long for. Now we get to go see what we can do.”

Today’s matchup is unusual in that it’s a rematch of a regular-season game. Auburn and George Washington met on Jan. 3, just before the start of the SEC season. GW won that matchup, 68-66, on a last-second 3-pointer.

Fortner believes the experience will help her players.

“We know them, we’ve guarded and battled with them and came close to beating them,” she said. “We would love to beat them.”

The winner of today’s game will play the winner of today’s game between third-seeded Cal and 14th-seeded San Diego.

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