Lenoir-Rhyne Captures Top Seed as 2026 SAC Women's Basketball Tournament Brackets are Released
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The Lenoir-Rhyne Bears clinched the outright SAC Women's Basketball Regular Season title with a 93-74 win against Carson-Newman. The Bears earned their fifth regular season crown, but just their second outright title.
The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will play on Wednesday and earn a day of rest should they advance. The semifinals will take place Friday, meaning the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will play Thursday and would have to compete three straight days to try to win a championship.
With the victory, Lenoir-Rhyne also claimed the No. 1 seed for just the third time in program history and the first since 2014. The Bears posted a 20-2 record in league play and enter the postseason on a 19-game winning streak.
Lincoln Memorial will be the No. 2 seed after finishing 19-3 and topping Newberry in the regular season finale. The second-place finish in the league standings is the best for LMU since winning the league title in 2017.
Coker will be the No. 3 seed after closing out the regular season with an 81-73 win at Emory & Henry. The Cobras, who won the SAC Regular Season title a season ago, enter the tournament with a 17-5 record in league play.
Carson-Newman is the No. 4 seed after wrapping up the SAC slate with a 15-7 mark and a 19-9 overall record.
UVA Wise is the tournament's No. 5 seed after handing Catawba a 70-60 defeat this afternoon. The win pushed the Highland Cavaliers to 13-9 in conference action this season, and they feature the league's leading scorer, Caroline Mullins, at 19.9 points per game.
Wingate will be the No. 6 seed with a winning percentage of .523 after having to nullify games due to a violation of NCAA and SAC bylaws.
Catawba claimed the No. 7 seed with a 10-12 record in conference play.
The final spot was clinched by the defending SAC Tournament Champions, Anderson, who defeated Tusculum 69-62 to secure the last berth with an 8-14 SAC record.
All tournament games will be broadcast on FloSports. The SAC Women's Basketball Championship schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, March 4
(Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, Rock Hill, S.C.)
Game 1: #1 Lenoir-Rhyne vs. #8 Anderson, 12:00 p.m.
Game 2: #2 Lincoln Memorial vs. #7 Catawba, 2:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 5
(Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, Rock Hill, S.C.)
Game 3: #4 Carson-Newman vs. #5 UVA Wise, 12:00 p.m.
Game 4: #3 Coker vs. #6 Wingate, 2:30 p.m.
Friday, March 6
(Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, Rock Hill, S.C.)
Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 3, 12:00 p.m.
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 4, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 7
(Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, Rock Hill, S.C.)
Game 7: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6, 1:00 p.m.