INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- For the first time in nearly two decades the SCAC will have three teams competing for the national championship as Blue Division Champion Colorado College, Co-Gold Division Champion McMurry University and Tournament Champion Texas Lutheran University were among the 64 teams selected for the 2025 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship. NCAA Release | Bracket
This year marks the first time since 2008 the SCAC has sent three women’s teams into the national championship and the first time since 2020 the league has been represented by multiple teams competing in the dance.
Texas Lutheran (23-4) and McMurry (21-5) are part of a four-team pod (first and second rounds) hosted by American Southwest Conference Tournament Champion East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas at Ornelas Gym. The competition begins on Friday, March 7, with the winners of those games squaring off on Saturday for a trip to the section round.
Texas Lutheran, which captured it’s third SCAC Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon, earning the league’s automatic bid into the dance will take on host ETBU (23-4). The TIgers earned that automatic bid from the ASC by defeating Hardin-Simmons 78-67 on Saturday. Historically, the SCAC is 7-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 3-1 record in the previous four matchups.
The Bulldogs will be making third third NCAA appearance and first since 2019. TLU will be seeking its first NCAA Tournament victory in program history with opening round losses to John Carroll (2014) and UT-Dallas (2019) in their two previous trips.
McMurry will this year’s post season journey on the other side of the ETBU pod when the War Hawks face Cal Lutheran (22-6), who earned the automatic bid from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). The Regals earned their first SCIAC Title since 2013 after defeating top-seeded Whittier 73-61 on Saturday. The SCAC is 1-1 all-time versus the SCIAC in the NCAA Tournament as the two conferences will clash for the first time since 2017 when Trinity defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the second round.
Despite falling the SCAC Semifinal on Saturday, McMurry earned one of 21 at-large (Pool-C) bids into the NCAA Tournament. This will be McMurry’s fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2008. The War Hawks are 2-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament action. McMurry is seeking its first NCAA Tournament win since the War Hawks defeated Trinity in the opening round of the 2008 Tournament.
Colorado College’s (23-3) season continues as the Tigers are making their second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and the first since 1990. CC earned an at-large (Pool-C) bid into the dance, marking just the fourth time in league history the conference has secured multiple at-large bids. Colorado College travels to take on host Wisconsin-La Crosse (16-11) at host Wisconsin-Whitewater in the opening round. The SCAC is 0-3 all-time against the WIAC in the NCAA Tournament.
On the other side of the bracket the host Warhawks (22-6) will face Principia (17-11) in the other opening round game with the winners facing off on Saturday.
Forty-three conferences have been awarded automatic qualification for the 2025 championship. The other 21 berths were reserved for at-large selections designated by the NCAA Power Index (NPI).
Sixteen first/second-round sites will be conducted March 7-8. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites March 14-15. Winners of the four sectional sites will advance to the national semifinals/final site on March 20 and 22. All games, except the semifinals and final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The semifinals/final will be conducted at Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia, hosted by City of Salem and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
