2026 NJCAA D1 National Tournament Site

CHARLOTTE, NC – Three Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference women’s basketball teams heard their names called Monday, officially securing their spot in the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball National Tournament Field as Butler, Dodge City, and Hutchinson have all had their seasons extended for at least one more week. The bracket, which was officially revealed at 4 PM on March 16th, saw NJCAA Region 6 Champion Butler earn the top overall seed.

In addition to the Grizzlies earning the top overall seed in the 24-team field, Dodge City will enter the tournament as the number 10 seed, while Hutchinson was also given one of eight at-large berths alongside the Conquistadors, as the Blue Dragons will be the number 13 seed in the bracket.

A new format that sees just four games played each day of the tournament will find number 13 seed Hutchinson the first KJCCC team to play in the national tournament this season after going 1-1 last season in Casper, Wyoming with a win over South Georgia Technical College before falling to Three Rivers College in the second round as the number 11 seed in the tournament. HCC will take on number 20 seed and North Central District Tournament Champion Willison State, at 2:30 PM on Tuesday, March 24th, in the third game of the tournament. Number 10 seed Dodge City is slated to play the following day at 12:15 PM on Wednesday, March 25th, when the Conquistadors take on number 23 seed Northwest Mississippi Community College in an opening round matchup. A win for Hutchinson would see the Blue Dragons matchup with number four seed Northwest Florida State College at 2:30 PM on Thursday, March 25th, while a Dodge City win would set up a matchup with number seven seed College of Southern Idaho at 12:15 PM on Friday, March 27th.

As the number one overall seed in the tournament, Butler’s national tournament will not begin until Thursday, March 26th, as the Grizzlies await the winner of an opening round matchup between number 16 seed New Mexico Junior College and number 17 seed Arizona Western Community College. Other teams that Butler could face with a win in their first-round contest include number eight Walters State, number nine State Fair, and number 24 Central Georgia Tech, with a quarterfinal round matchup taking place at 10 AM on Saturday, March 28th.

All games of the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball National Tournament will take place inside Townsley Law Arena on the campus of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with all games (except the National Championship game) being streamed live on ESPN+ (https://plus.espn.com/). The 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball National Championship game will take place on Tuesday, March 31 at 5 PM (CDT) with the game airing live on ESPNU.