A highly successful season for Army women’s basketball has added life.
Late Sunday, the Black Knights accepted a berth in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), a third-tier level postseason event. The entire bracket will be announced on Monday, with first-round games scheduled between March 19-21.
It will be the seventh time Army has played in a national postseason event at the Division I level, and second year in a row it has played in the WNIT. In 2025, Army staged a wild comeback to beat Bryant 59-58 in the opening round and then bowed to Rutgers 71-60 in the Round of 32.
The 68-team NCAA Division I tournament is the ultimate goal for all schools. The next-level event is now the 32-team Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), instituted by the NCAA in 2024. The WNIT used to be the second-tier event administered by the NCAA from 1998-2023. The current WNIT is a postseason event conducted by Triple Crown Sports, featuring no more than 48 teams.
Under first-year coach Katie Kuester, Army (24-7) finished third in the Patriot League at 14-4. The Black Knights beat No. 6 Lafayette 65-57 in the quarterfinal round on March 9 but bowed at No. 2 Holy Cross 61-55 in the semifinals on March 12.
Holy Cross claimed the automatic NCAA tourney bid with a 77-70 win over Lehigh in the Patriot finals on Sunday – the Crusaders will play at No. 2 Michigan in the NCAA opener on Friday, March 20.
Regular-season champ Navy, which lost to Lehigh in the semifinals, got the league’s automatic berth into the WBIT. The Midshipmen will play at Harvard in the opening round on Thursday, March 19. Lehigh will join Army in the WNIT.
As Patriot League champ, Army bowed out in the opening round of the NCAA tourney in 2006 (Tennessee), 2014 (Maryland) and 2016 (Syracuse). Army also bowed out twice in the WNIT opening round in 2013 (Fordham) and 2015 (St. John’s).
Automatic qualifiers for the 2026 WNIT include: Abilene Christian (23-10, Western Athletic); Alcorn State (17-3, Southwest Athletic); Florida International (20-11, Conference USA); Lamar (20-10, Southland); Maryland Eastern Shore (19-14, Mid-Eastern Athletic); Mercyhurst (15-16, Northeast); Montana State (25-7, Big Sky); Radford (22-12, Big South); and, Youngstown State (24-9, Horizon).
The at-large field is: Air Force (16-18, Mountain West); Arkansas State (24-9, Sun Belt); Austin Peay (19-13, Atlantic Sun); Binghamton (19-12, America East); Bradley (20-12, Missouri Valley); Cleveland State (24-9, Horizon); Drexel (21-10, Colonial); Florida Gulf Coast (16-15, Atlantic Sun); George Washington (15-17, Atlantic 10); Illinois State (20-13, Missouri Valley); La Salle (18-13, Atlantic 10); Lehigh (17-14, Patriot); Loyola Chicago (14-17, Atlantic 10); Marshall (23-9, Sun Belt); Merrimack (19-12, Metro Atlantic); Middle Tennessee (16-15, Conference USA); Monmouth (20-11, Colonial); Morehead State (18-14, Ohio Valley); New Jersey Tech (18-12, America East); Norfolk State (18-14, Mid-Eastern); Northern Colorado (22-10, Big Sky); Ohio (18-13, Mid-American); Pepperdine (19-12, West Coast); Portland (18-14, West Coast); Purdue Fort Wayne (20-13, Horizon); Sam Houston (18-12, Conference UA); San Francisco (18-14, West Coast); South Alabama (16-18, Sun Belt); South Dakota (23-9, Summit); Southern Indiana (21-10, Ohio Valley); Southern Utah (19-12, Western Athletic); St. Bonaventure (16-15, Atlantic 10); Stetson (20-11, Atlantic Sun); Cal Davis (23-10, Big West); Maryland Baltimore County (16-14, America East); Utah Valley (16-14, Western Athletic); Texas Rio Grand Valley (20-13, Southland); Wake Forest (14-17, Atlantic Coast).
kmcmillan@th-record.com
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This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army basketball heads for Women’s National Invitation Tournament again
Reporting by Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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