AMHERST, N.Y. – For the seventh consecutive season, the Daemen University women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament after collecting its fifth straight East Coast Conference tournament title with a 73-68 victory over No. 2 seed Mercy on Sunday afternoon. The eight regional tournaments begin later this week across the country, and the full 64-team NCAA tournament bracket was announced late this evening in a selection show on NCAA.com.
The tournament field is broken down into eight regions, each consisting of eight teams each. Daemen is one of 23 conference champions to earn an automatic qualifying bid to the tournament. The Division II Women's Basketball Committee selects the remaining 41 at-large bids.
Daemen comes into the East Region as the No.3 seed and will face No. 6 Felician University of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference in the quarterfinal match-up on Friday, March 13. The East Region Tournament will be held at the James Moore Field House on the campus of Southern Connecticut State. As the top seed in the East, SCSU will host the entire regional tournament.
Game times, ticket and broadcast information for the East Region Championship will be announced later this week.
Felician won the CACC title for the first time in program history to earn an automatic bid. The Falcons currently hold a 24-7 record and went 15-5 in CACC play.
Daemen goes into its seventh straight regional tournament with a 24-3 record. The Wildcats were co-ECC regular-season champions with Mercy. Daemen defeated CSI in the ECC semifinals, then beat the Mavericks in the final.
Since punching their ticket to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament in the 2019-20 season that was canceled due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Daemen has been a staple in the postseason, advancing to the "Big Dance" each year since. In the past six seasons, the Wildcats have advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight twice (2021, 2024).
The winners of the eight regional tournaments will advance to the NCAA Elite Eight, which is slated for March 24 at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Final Four will be held on March 26, and the 2026 NCAA Division II National Championship will be on March 28.
A full opening-round preview will be posted to daemenwildcats.com later this week.
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
Follow the Daemen women's basketball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWBB
