Women's Basketball to Face Scranton in the Opening Round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament

Framingham, Mass. – After receiving the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference's (MASCAC) automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament, the 2025-26 MASCAC Tournament Champion Framingham State University Rams will be squaring off against the University of Scranton in Scranton, PA in a first round game on Friday, March 6th.  

The Rams will be making the program's fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning their fourth MASCAC Tournament Title in the last six seasons.  The Rams last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was during the 2023-24 season. 

Framingham State finished the 2025-26 season 17-10 overall and 11-3 in MASCAC action.  After earning the second seed in the 2025-26 MASCAC Women's Basketball Tournament, the Rams led by Tournament MVP Jacqueline Schels dispatched fourth seed Salem State in the semifinals before defeating top seed Bridgewater State in the finals this past Sunday. 

The 2025-26 Rams were led by the trio of Faith Greene, Schels and Kiara Cerruti.  Greene averaged 16.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.  Schels finished the year averaging 15.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, three assists and two steals per game, while Cerruti, who scored her 1,000th career point this year, averaged 13.4 points, four rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.  

Scranton earned an automatic bid to the tournament after defeating Elizabethtown in the Landmark Conference Championship game. The Lady Royals won the program's eleventh consecutive conference title and enter the tournament with an overall record of 27-0 and 18-0 in Landmark Conference action. 

This will be just the third meeting between Framingham State and the University of Scranton as they previously met during the 2001-02 season and in the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24. 

Scranton will be hosting the four team regional on Friday and Saturday with Otterbein and Randolph-Macon meeting in the other first round matchup. The winners of the two first round games will face each other on Saturday to advance.