Mar. 2—MITCHELL — The Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball team will get to start their national tournament at home in March.
The Tigers and the Corn Palace were selected as one of 16 host sites for the NAIA women’s basketball tournament on March 13-14 for the opening two rounds. It’s the first time the Tigers have hosted national tournament games since the format changed to 64 teams over two weekends in 2022.
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The rest of the 64-team NAIA tournament field will be announced Thursday, March 5.
Following Saturday’s Great Plains Athletic Conference semifinal win over Hastings, DWU coach Jason Christensen said he was optimistic about DWU’s chances to be at home for the first two games of the national tournament. The Tigers, ranked No. 9 in the NAIA coaches poll top-25, play No. 1 Dordt in GPAC championship game on Tuesday night.
“I would think we have a pretty good chance,” he said. “These kids have been busting their tails for three, four years now, and this has been a goal. They’ve wanted to host. Now we’re finally gotten an opportunity. In the last ARC (rankings), we were sitting No. 3 and we’ve done some good things since then and we’re playing the No. 1 team in the country on Tuesday, so I’d like to think that will boost us.”
That would potentially give DWU two more home games at the Corn Palace, where the Tigers are 14-1 this season and have won 37 of their last 43 home games over the last three seasons.
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Each first and second round site will feature four teams, and they will play single elimination on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14. The winner of the four-team opening-round bracket will advance to the NAIA women’s basketball 16-team final site in Sioux City, Iowa, which will start on March 19 and conclude on March 24.
Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s GPAC champion, DWU is already assured an NAIA tournament slot as one of two automatic qualifiers from the conference alongside Dordt. The 2026 tournament will be the fifth consecutive NAIA national bracket appearance for the Tigers.
The other opening-round host locations include (listed with their most recent coaches poll ranking):
* No. 3 Bethel (Tenn.), McKenzie, Tenn.
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* No. 5 Campbellsville (Ky.), Campbellsville, Ky.
* No. 7 Dakota State (S.D.), Madison
* No. 1 Dordt (Iowa), Sioux Center, Iowa
* No. 12 Evangel (Mo.), Springfield, Mo.
* Faulkner (Ala.), Montgomery, Ala.
* No. 2 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), Henderson, Tenn.
* No. 21 Friends (Kan.), Wichita, Kan.
* Georgetown (Ky.), Georgetown, Ky.
* No. 17 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Lewiston, Idaho
* No. 4 Marian (Ind.), Indianapolis, Ind.
* No. 10 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Olathe, Kan.
* No. 8 Rio Grande (Ohio), Rio Grande, Ohio
* No. 6 Saint Francis (Ind.), Fort Wayne, Ind.
* No. 18 Spring Arbor (Mich.), Spring Arbor, Mich.
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In the most recent NAIA RPI ranking released on Feb. 23, DWU was at No. 21 overall, with the Tigers’ strength of schedule ranked at 47th out of 226 teams in NAIA women’s basketball.
In terms of RPI, DWU has wins over No. 4 Campbellsville (Ky.), while DWU has lost twice to No. 6 Dordt, and has road losses to No. 12 Dakota State and No. 16 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.).
“Last year, I think we missed out because of our strength of schedule and Hastings had that advantage on us,” Christensen said. “This year, we loaded up (the schedule), and I’m like, OK, now try to keep me out, so that’s why I did that.”
DWU and Dordt will play on Tuesday night for the GPAC tournament title, and there’s plenty of championship experience for the host Defenders. Dordt is hosting the conference title for the fourth year in a row and the Defenders are looking for their third consecutive tournament championship.
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Dordt won the first meeting 86-81 on Dec. 10 in Sioux Center, Iowa, and then rallied to defeat DWU 65-59 at the Corn Palace on Feb. 18. Tuesday’s game is at De Witt Gymnasium, where Dordt women’s basketball has won 48 straight home games.
Dordt boasts Gracie Schoonhoven as the conference leader in scoring (21.8) and shooting percentage (63.5) from the field. Guard Macy Sievers has averaged 16 points per game and has a team-best 274 assists and 93 steals for the season.
DWU’s Avery Broughton ranks fourth in the GPAC in field goal percentage at 52.3% from the field. Broughton is also the conference leader in blocks at 65 for the season, which is six shy of the DWU single-season record held by Randi Morgan in 2004. Emma Yost averages 15 points per game, Broughton is at 14.4 points per game and Rylee Rosenquist averages 12.4 points per game for the Tigers.
Dordt is the conference leader in shooting percentage as a team at 47.1%, while DWU is second at 46.1%. The Defenders also lead the GPAC in 3-point shooting percentage as a team at 36.6%.
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“This is a great test. I can’t go out and simulate a practice like this,” Christensen said. “I’m hoping (Dordt coach Bill Harmsen) and I will see each other in the national tournament again, so we’re going to go out there and just go nose-to-nose with them and see what happens.”
