KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the teams and bracket for the 2026 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds, presented by Ballogy. The 64-team bracket will begin with the First and Second Rounds at host sites nationwide on March 13-14. The 2026 NAIA Second Round winners will meet in Sioux City, Iowa, at the NAIA Championship final site presented by Bomgaars and Sterling. The 45th annual championship occurs at the Tyson Events Center from March 19-24.
Langston University, selected to the Naismith Quadrant, earned a No. 8 seed and will travel to Henderson, Tenn. Which is hosted by Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.). In their pod of four teams includes No. 1 seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), No. 9 seed Bethel (Ind.) and No. 16 seed Rust (Miss.).
The Lions will be making their 17th appearance in the NAIA National Tournament and second-straight under head coach Chris Vincent.
The tournament schedule for Langston University at the Brewer Sports Center is as follows.
March 13 | Game One – 1:30 pm CT
No. 8 Langston (Okla.) vs No. 9 Bethel (Ind.)
March 13 | Game Two – 3:30 pm CT
No. 1 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) vs No. 16 Rust (Miss.)
March 14 | Game Three – 2 pm CT
Game One winner vs Game Two winner
This year's First Round field includes 35 automatic qualifiers and 29 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title or regular season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament or were otherwise selected by the conference. The NAIA Women's Basketball National Selection Committee determined the at-large bids. The selection committee consists of one representative from each geographical area and six at-large members, comprised of coaches and administrators from around the country.
The Crossroads League leads the way with seven teams qualifying for the national tournament, while the Cascade Collegiate Conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference and Mid-South Conference all qualified six teams.
There is one new team entering the championship field, Texas A&M - San Antonio, that is checking in for the first time. On the other end of the field, Campbellsville (Ky.) returns to the field for the 34th time. The Tigers hold the most appearances in championship history. College of the Ozarks (Mo.) also boasts 30 appearances in the championship field.
Tickets to the first and seconds round hosted by Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) are on sale now at the link here.
