INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champion Trinity University (22-5) has earned its fourth-straight berth into the 64-team NCAA Div. III Women’s Basketball Tournament, as the league’s automatic qualifier. NCAA Release | Interactive Bracket
The Tigers earned the SCAC automatic bid by virtue of their 64-54 win over Colorado College Sunday afternoon. The SCAC Championship was the fourth consecutive league crown for Trinity and assured the Tigers of their 14th appearance in NCAA postseason play.
Trinity will travel to Abilene, Texas for its NCAA opening round contest against University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (21-6) at host Hardin-Simmons University. The Cru earned one of 21 at-large (Pool-C) bids into the NCAA Tournament despite falling to Hardin-Simmons in the American Southwest Conference final Saturday night. This will be the fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament for UMHB, all coming since 2019 and most recently in 2022. Historically, the SCAC owns a 7-9 record against the ASC in NCAA Tournament play.
The two teams played earlier this season (November 11th) when Trinity edged UMHB, 84-74. First Team All-SCAC honoree Josie Napoli scored 10 points, dished out five assists and grabbed two rebounds in the win. Tip-off for the Tigers opening round contest is set for Friday March 1st.
On the other side of the bracket, Hardin-Simmons (24-3) will take on Occidental (20-5). The winners of Friday’s contests play on Saturday with a berth to the round of 16 on the line.
The 2024 NCAA Division III women's basketball championship was revealed during the selection show on Feb. 26. The first round begins on Friday, March 1 and continues through the national championship game on March 16 in Columbus, Ohio at the Capital Center Performance Arena.
Transylvania is the defending national champion after defeating Christopher Newport 57-52 to cap off a perfect 33-0 season, winning its first national championship in program history.
The tournament will consist of four regions of 16 teams each. Regional play will be hosted by the top 16 national seeds in the tournament. 42 teams will qualify by earning an automatic bid as conference champions, 21 teams will earn at-large bids and one team will be selected from a group of conference champions that do not meet the requirements for automatic selection.
