WAC WBB2526 Release - NCAA/WNIT Tournament

CALIFORNIA BAPTIST WINS ITS THIRD WAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 1 seeded California Baptist defeated No. 2 Abilene Christian 74-58 in the conference tournament championship game to win the 2026 Air Force Reserve WAC Women’s Basketball Tournament title, its third WAC tournament championship in the last six seasons. With the victory, the Lancers locked an automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament where CBU received the No. 16 seed in the Sacramento Region and will square off with No. 1 UCLA in the first round on Saturday, March 21 at 7 p.m. PT. The Lancers will be making their second NCAA appearance as they also played UCLA in the first round of the 2024 tournament. California Baptist will look to be the first WAC team to win a first-round game and advance to the second round of the NCAA DI Women’s Basketball Tournament since 2004.
 
CBU’S FILIPA BARROS NAMED WAC TOURNAMENT MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER
California Baptist’s redshirt junior guard Filipa Barros was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after a near triple-double performance in the championship game with eight points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Barros also recorded a team-high 21 points and 13 rebounds against No. 5 Tarleton State in the semifinals. Over the two games, Barros averaged 14.5 points, 13.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. Joining Barros on the all-tournament team from California Baptist was Emma Johansson (10.5 points, 3.0 blocks per game) and Shawnee Nordstrom (15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds per game). Payton Hull (15.5 points, 4.0 assists per game) and Erin Woodson (10.5 points, 8.5 rebounds) represented Abilene Christian on the all-tournament team.
 
THREE WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED TO WNIT FIELD
For the second straight year, the WAC will have at least three teams represented in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament as Abilene Christian, Southern Utah and Utah Valley will continue its postseason runs in the 28th edition of the Postseason WNIT. Utah Valley will play its first round game at San Francisco on Thursday, March 19 at 6 p.m. PT. Abilene Christian and Southern Utah both received first-round byes with the round two matchups (dates, times, locations) to be determined following the completion of the first round. The Wildcats will play the winner of FIU/Stetson and the Thunderbirds will play the victor of Pepperdine/UC Davis.
 
ACU’S PAYTON HULL RECEIVES WAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR HONOR
Abilene Christian’s Payton Hull was tabbed the 2025-26 WAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year on March 10, as voted on by the league’s seven head coaches in part of the end of season awards presented by Jersey Mike’s. Hull led the WAC in scoring in all regular season games (18.5 ppg) and in conference games (19.0 ppg). Hull’s 13 20-point games were the most in the league as she was also the only player in the WAC to record multiple 30-point games including a WAC game-high 36 points against Tarleton State on Feb. 14. Hull notched doubled-digit scoring in 30 out of 31 games this year and tallied the most 3-pointers made in the WAC with 74 total shots made from beyond the arc. Hull was also a strong defensive force for the Wildcats as she was one steal shy of leading the WAC with 84 total steals on the year, collecting at least one steal in every game this season. Hull was the only non-Lancer to earn one of the five major awards as the 2025-26 WAC regular season champions, California Baptist, swept the rest of the yearly awards. The other top awards winners from Riverside include Emma Johansson (WAC Defensive Player of the Year), Lauren Olsen (WAC Freshman of the Year), Khloe Lemon (WAC Sixth Player of the Year) and Jarrod Olson (WAC Coach of the Year).
 
WAC IN THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Utah Valley cemented itself as one of the best defensive teams in the country in the 2025-26 season as the Wolverines ranked inside the top 10 of steals per game (third, 15.4), turnovers forced per game (fourth, 25.27) and turnover margin (eighth, 7.67). As conference tournaments concluded, California Baptist’s Emma Johansson finished at the top of the NCAA DI total blocks leaderboard with 91 blocks this season, also ranking second in blocks per game with 2.76 blocks per game. UT Arlington’s Kira Reynolds wrapped up an impressive freshman campaign inside the top 10 of the national block rankings as well, ranking eighth in total blocks (78) and ninth in blocks per game (2.36).