March 19, 2026

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Dakota State (S.D.) is preparing for the upcoming 45^th annual NAIA Women’s Basketball National Tournament’s final site (presented by Ballogy), starting Thursday afternoon at Tyson Events Center.  The Trojans are making their third trip in the last four seasons to the final site. 

Dakota State, who won the Frontier Conference regular season outright title with a 19-3 conference record, made their sixth consecutive appearance to the national tournament.

The Trojans hosted their 4-team pod last weekend (their third straight year of hosting the national tournament’s First and Second Round).  Dakota State, No. 3 in the Naismith Quadrant, breezed through the first two rounds after scoring more than 100 points in back-to-back games.

DSU kicked off the First Round with a 102-51 rout over No. 14 seed Grand View (Iowa) on March 13, highlighted by a 22-2 first quarter run and held the Vikings to no field goals in the first 10-plus minutes. 

The Trojans followed up with a 104-74 victory over No. 11 Bethel (Kan.) on March 14 to move on to the final site.

Dakota State will face No. 10 seed Indiana Wesleyan in the Round of 16 game Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. (Central Time)/2 p.m. (Mountain Time).  The Wildcats are coming off from their 86-80 upset over No. 2 seed and host-team Rio Grande (Ohio) in the Second Round last Saturday.

The Naismith Quadrant’s final takes place Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. (CT)/12 p.m. (MT) between the winners of No. 1 seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and No. 5 seed Georgetown (Ky.).