March 5, 2026

Taylor Receives At-Large Bid to NAIA Tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Taylor University women's basketball is headed to the 2026 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship First & Second Round presented by Ballogy, earning a No. 12 seed while securing an at-large bid in Thursday evening's NAIA Selection Show.

Taylor (17-12) will be in the Naismith Bracket and will make its 10th all-time appearance in the NAIA National Tournament, when it faces the host and fifth-seeded Georgetown (22-8) on Friday, March 13 at 1:00 pm (ET) in Georgetown, Kentucky. Both teams received votes in the final NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll.

The Trojans are 7-8 all-time in the NAIA National Tournament, with its first win coming in 1997 and the last win in the Opening Round in 2020 before the tournament was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Taylor is 5-4 all-time in the first round, with its longest tournament run in 2007 and 2019 resulting in berths in the Elite Eight.

TU will open with fifth-seeded RV Georgetown, who earned an at-large bid out of the Mid-South Conference. The Tigers, who are 18-2 in Davis-Reid Alumni Gym – the site of the First-Round matchup, closed the regular season with five consecutive victories with wins over No. 4 Campbellsville (twice), No. 13 Lindsey Wilson, No. 15 Cumberlands and RV Cumberland. The Tigers advanced to the Round of 16 last season before falling to Indiana Wesleyan.

The winner of the contest between Taylor and Georgetown will advance to play the winner of fourth-seeded Loyola (LA) (24-4) and 13th-seeded Milligan (23-7) on Saturday, March 14 at 2:30 pm (ET). Then, the winner of the four-team pod will advance to the Round of 16 hosted at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The final site schedule for the 45th Annual NAIA Women's Basketball Championship will run from March 19 to March 24.

The Trojans are one of seven Crossroads League teams that qualified for the national tournament, including Marian, St. Francis, Spring Arbor, Bethel, Huntington and Indiana Wesleyan.