While the Columbia Lions women’s basketball team didn’t make it to the NCAA Tournament this year after an appearance last season, they did have a strong postseason showing.
The Lions advanced to the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) championship game, where they faced BYU last night at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas after a 67-50 win over Nebraska in the semifinals on Monday.
“The rhythm of the game, I do think we dominated for the most part,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith following her team’s decisive victory.
The 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Final Four looks a lot like last year as the UConn, UCLA, University of Texas, and University of South Carolina all return. The one difference is all of them had No. 1 seeds in their region a season ago except UConn, the eventual national champion, which was a No. 2 seed.
This time around, the undefeated (38-0) Huskies are the prohibitive favorites. But all four squads rolled through their opponents with relative ease to get to Phoenix. While there were some brief challenges in the Elite Eight, notably TCU leading South Carolina in the first quarter, it appeared pretty obvious who would be heading into the season’s last weekend to vie for the title.
UConn, the only unbeaten DI team this season, is aiming for its 13th NCAA championship. The Huskies take on South Carolina (35-3), with the Gamecocks seeking their fourth national chip. UCLA (35-1), chasing its first, plays Texas, which hasn’t hoisted the championship trophy since 1986 — forty years ago.
An expert eye, Elizabeth Naumovski, former head coach at Queens College (2011–25), is expecting close matchups. The one thing not up for debate is who is the most dominant player. That distinction is held by UConn sophomore forward Sarah Strong.
“Statistically, where she ranks with scoring and rebounding, she’s one of the greats already. She’s strong on both ends,” said Naumovski. “A fitting last name.”
Naumovski expects a close game between UConn and South Carolina, but the Gamecocks need to limit Strong to no more than 20 points if they want to come out on top.
“The last two games, UConn has shown they’re not infallible; they haven’t looked as dominant as they have in the past, although obviously, they’re still terrific,” she said. “South Carolina has improved a lot from the beginning of the year. This South Carolina team is one of the better teams in terms of offensive execution.”
The UCLA/Texas match up also could go either way. UCLA’s one loss this season came against Texas in November.
“This is the most consistent that (UCLA senior center) Lauren Betts has played in the NCAA Tournament,” said Naumovski. “She’s playing with a purpose knowing that this is her last year. But I do think Texas matches up well with UCLA. Madison Booker (Texas junior forward) is obviously tremendous in the tournament as well. I don’t think [UCLA] has a good one-on-one matchup for Madison Booker. It’s going to take team defense to slow her down. Rori Harmon (Texas) has been the best point guard in the tournament.”
So has the Amsterdam News followed up with any other editorials since the womena’s FF4?