Seedings Announced for 2026 Air Force Reserve Women's Basketball Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – The seedings and pairings for next week’s Air Force Reserve Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn., have been determined following the conclusion of the conference’s regular-season schedule this afternoon.
BRACKET
Regular-season champion
High Point (13-3) is the No. 1 seed – its fourth No. 1 seed in the Big South Tournament in six years, and the first league member with back-to-back-to-back top seeds since Liberty from 2011-2013. HPU has secured the Big South’s automatic bid to the WBIT should the Panthers not win the tournament.
Radford (12-4) is the No. 2 seed, followed by
Longwood (11-5) at the No. 3 seed and
Gardner-Webb (9-7) with the No. 4 seed.
Winthrop and
UNC Asheville tied for fifth in the standings at 7-9. The teams split the season series, and the Eagles earned the No. 5 seed based on their 1-1 record vs. Longwood (AVL was 0-2 vs. LWU) to give the Bulldogs the No. 6 seed.
Charleston Southern and
USC Upstate tied for seventh at 6-10, and the Bucs secured the No. 7 seed due to their season sweep of the Spartans (No. 8 seed).
Presbyterian finished the league slate at 1-15 for the No. 9 seed, and will meet Upstate in the first round on Wednesday, March 4 at 5:00pm.
The Upstate/Presbyterian winner will advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 5, and play No. 1 High Point at 11:30am. No. 4 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 5 Winthrop will follow at 2:00pm, with No. 2 Radford vs. No. 7 Charleston Southern at 6:00pm. No. 3 Longwood vs. No. 6 UNC Asheville will conclude quarterfinal day at 8:30pm. The semifinals will be Saturday, March 7 at 6:00pm and 8:30pm, with the Championship game on Sunday, March 8 scheduled for 6:00pm.
The 2026 Air Force Reserve Big South Women’s Basketball Championship will be televised on ESPN+ Wednesday-through-Saturday, while Sunday’s Championship game will air live on ESPN2 for the third consecutive year. The Big South’s Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Conference Championship schedule is below, and tickets are available at
www.BigSouthSports.com/Tickets.
First Round - Wednesday, March 4 - ESPN+
Game 1: (8) USC Upstate vs. (9) Presbyterian, 5:00pm
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 5 – ESPN+
Game 2: (1) High Point vs. 8/9 winner, 11:30am (Education Day presented by Food City)
Game 3: (4) Gardner-Webb vs. (5) Winthrop, 2:00pm
Game 4: (2) Radford vs. (7) Charleston Southern, 6:00pm
Game 5: (3) Longwood vs. (6) UNC Asheville, 8:30pm
Semifinals - Saturday, March 7 – ESPN+
Game 6: Semifinals – Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 6:00pm
Game 7: Semifinals – Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 8:30pm
Championship - Sunday, March 8 – ESPN2
Game 8: Championship – Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 6:00pm