FARMINGTON, Utah (Mar. 16, 2026) – Big Sky Women's Basketball regular season and tournament champions, Idaho will head to the sooner state to face #4 Oklahoma in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, while runner-up Montana State and Northern Colorado have earned postseason bids to the WNIT.
Tipoff between #4 Oklahoma and #13 Idaho is set for Friday, March 20th at 8:00 p.m. MT. The winner advances to face either No. 5 Michigan State or No. 12 seed Colorado State in Norman.
This will be Idaho's first trip back to the NCAA Tournament since 2015-16.
The Vandals will take an 18-game win streak into the NCAA tournament; their last lost came against Montana State on January 10th. Idaho most recently defeated reigning tournament champions Montana State in the Big Sky championship game on Wednesday, who they split games with in the regular seaon, by a score of 60-57.
Idaho also took down No. 9 seed Weber State and No. 5 seed Sacramento State en route to the tournament crown.
Idaho's Hope Hassmann was named Tournament MVP after an 11-point championship game performance.
The Vandals are seeking to become the first Big Sky team since 1995 to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. That victory came for Montana against San Diego State.
The Sooners enter the NCAA Tournament with a 24-7 record overall, while going 11-5 in the SEC this season. Oklahoma's SEC Tournament run came to an end in the quarterfinals when they fell to sixth-seeded LSU. The Sooners have reached the NCAA Tournament in all five seasons under the leadership of Baranczyk and have earned a top-five seed in each appearance.
Montana State and Northern Colorado will both continue their season in the WNIT. Northern Colorado has a first round matchup set against in-state for Air Force on Thursday, March 19th. Montana State has earned a first round bye and will await the winner of San Francisco/Utah Valley in the second round.
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