Taylor Heads to Georgetown for NAIA First-Round Matchup Friday

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UPLAND, Ind. – The Taylor University women's basketball team will make its 10th all-time appearance in the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship when it faces fifth-seeded Georgetown College on Friday afternoon in Georgetown, Kentucky. The 12th-seeded Trojans earned an at-large bid to the national tournament following a season that produced a 10-win improvement — one of just six such turnarounds in NAIA women's basketball. All NAIA Championship games can be streamed on Urban Edge Network.

It is Taylor's first national tournament appearance since 2020, when the Trojans won an opening-round game before the event was halted due to COVID-19. TU is 5-4 all-time in first-round tournament games and reached the Elite Eight in 2007 and 2019. The Trojans appeared in six of eight NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Polls this season, peaking at 47 votes in January.

Friday marks the first meeting between Taylor and Georgetown since November 2015, when TU claimed a 71-65 home victory for its only win in four all-time meetings. The Trojans have never won in Georgetown — their lone visit, in 2007, ended in a 72-54 loss.

In her third season leading the program, head coach Cassie Wiseman guided TU to a 17-12 record, highlighted by a 14-0 start — the program's best since 2019-20 — and the third-longest win streak in program history. The Trojans recorded four Quad 1 victories, including wins over then-No. 13 Indiana Wesleyan and No. 22 Indiana Tech, and went 10-4 at Odle Arena for the program's highest home win total in six seasons.

Freshman Kaycie Warfel, the Crossroads League Newcomer of the Year and First-Team All-Crossroads League performer, led the entire NAIA in scoring at 24.3 points per game and in total points with 679, the fourth-highest single-season total in program history and the new TU freshman record. Warfel shot 45.6 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from three-point range while adding a league-leading 2.8 steals per game. She scored 30 or more points eight times, headlined by a 40-point performance at Grace that tied for the second-highest single-game scoring output in TU history.

Fellow freshman Madi Allen, an Honorable Mention All-CL selection, averaged 11.3 points and 5.2 rebounds while leading the team in minutes played at 31.9 per game. Celina Blount (7.7 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.5 BPG) recorded four double-doubles on the season and set a new TU single-season blocks record. Blount and Warfel swept the NAIA National Player of the Week awards on Nov. 10 – becoming the first set of teammates to do so, while Quinn Kelly, Emma Fohl, Marissa Trout and Emma Ancelet provided key contributions throughout the year.

TU averaged 73.9 points, 39.7 rebounds and 13.3 assists per game this season while forcing 17.2 opponent turnovers per contest. The Trojans were especially potent at home, shooting 45.2 percent and averaging 77.6 points at Odle Arena. TU's defensive identity has been central to its success this season. In the Trojans' 17 victories, opponents shot just 36.4 percent from the field, and TU held a plus-6.4 rebounding margin. The Trojans were at their best early in the season, averaging 90.7 points and 49.3 rebounds during the program-record 14-0 start, and will look to recapture that form with a clean slate in the national tournament.

Battling through a Crossroads League gauntlet, TU competed against ranked or receiving-votes opponents 13 times (4-9) this season and navigated a stretch of five consecutive matchups against ranked teams in early January.

Taylor is one of seven Crossroads League teams in the national tournament field, the most of any conference, joined by Marian, Saint Francis, Spring Arbor, Bethel, Huntington and Indiana Wesleyan.

The Tigers (22-8) earned an at-large bid out of the Mid-South Conference and will host as the fifth seed. Georgetown, which started 13-0, enters the tournament after bowing out of the MSC Semifinals following a seven-point defeat to top-seeded Bethel (TN). The Tigers went 8-8 against ranked or receiving-votes opponents, closing the regular season with five straight victories over No. 4 Campbellsville (twice), No. 13 Lindsey Wilson, No. 15 Cumberlands and receiving-votes Cumberland.

Georgetown is 18-2 at Davis-Reid Alumni Gym this season with its only losses to No. 2 Freed-Hardeman and No. 24 Lindsey Wilson. The Tigers led the MSC at 81.8 points per game while shooting 42.1 percent as a team overall and 31.5 percent from three-point range.

Head coach Jeff Nickel's roster features three All-Conference performers. Freshman Daysha Reid, the Mid-South Conference Freshman of the Year, averaged 15.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 39.0 percent from the field. Daisy Gale earned MSC Player of the Week honors and provides a versatile scoring presence, while senior Kayra Freeman brings postseason experience to the backcourt.

Making its fifth consecutive national tournament appearance, Georgetown advanced to the Round of 16 last season before falling to Indiana Wesleyan.

Both teams received votes in the final NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, and both rosters are led by standout freshmen — Warfel for Taylor, Reid for Georgetown.

The winner advances to face the winner of No. 4 Loyola (LA) (24-4) and No. 13 Milligan (23-7) on Saturday, March 14 at 2:30 p.m. ET. The four-team pod winner advances to the Round of 16 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The 45th Annual NAIA Women's Basketball Championship runs March 19-24.