DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Embry-Riddle women's basketball found out on Sunday night that they will be competing in the NCAA II National Tournament for the third consecutive season. The Eagles and Nova Southeastern are the only two teams in the SSC who have qualified for the tournament in each of the past three years.

The 2026 championship field will include 64 teams, which will compete in a single-elimination tournament. The 64 teams were split into eight regions with the winner of each region advancing to the Elite 8 which will be hosted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ERAU will travel to Huntsville, Alabama as the No. 6 seed, with their opening round match taking place on Friday, March 13 against Eckerd, the No. 3 seed in the region. The Eagles and Tritons split their regular season series, with the home team winning each matchup. On January 3, the Blue and Gold beat Eckerd 70-65 at home behind a 17-point outing from both Laurie Satchell and Eliana Sheplee. Just three weeks later, the Tritons won 73-55 in St. Petersburg despite a 23-point game for Sheplee. 

This will be the second meeting all-time in the national tournament between the two schools, with ERAU beating the Tritons 57-54 in the opening round of the 2018 national tournament. The Blue and Gold have won three of the four postseason matchups against Eckerd with the most recent game coming in the 2025 SSC Tournament semifinal which the Eagles won 60-56.

The winner of the Embry-Riddle and Eckerd will face either Union or Florida Southern in the second round. First round games will take place Friday, followed by the second round on Saturday, with the regional championship scheduled for Monday evening.

The full tournament field can be found here.