Villanova women are a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, will face No. 7 seed Texas Tech
The Wildcats and Red Raiders are in the Sacramento 2 Region. Their first-round game is in Baton Rouge, La., and the winner will advance to face the LSU-Jacksonville winner.
For the first time since its 2023 Sweet 16 run, the Villanova women’s basketball team heard its name called during the NCAA women’s basketball selection show on Sunday.
Villanova (25-7, 16-4 Big East), the No. 10 seed in the Sacramento 2 region, will face No. 7 seed Texas Tech (25-7, 12-6 Big 12) on Friday in Baton Rouge, La.
“This team certainly put together the resumé they needed to get into March Madness, and we were confident that we were getting here,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “... You put [the seeding] aside at this point. You just prepare for what’s ahead. You’re happy to be in there; you want to battle and prove yourself, so that’s our position right now.”
The team, coaches, their families, and fans gathered in Finneran Pavilion to learn of their NCAA Tournament seeding and destination.
In a new format, the NCAA announced the first 16 seeds of this year’s tournament on Saturday. The remaining members of the 68-team bracket then were revealed during Sunday’s selection show.
Villanova missed the NCAA Tournament in the previous two seasons, instead competing in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. The Wildcats ended the 2024-25 season in the WBIT semifinals with a 21-15 record after reaching the championship game of the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2023-24.
“From the start of the season to now, we’ve competed our hardest, and we talk about it all the time that we still haven’t played our best basketball,” senior forward Denae Carter said. “So all those games combined, and now entering March, where it’s win or go home, it’s really big for us. So I think we’re ready for the moment and excited.”
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The Wildcats have appeared in the NCAA Tournament two other times since Dillon took over as head coach in 2020-21, and this will be their 14th appearance overall. They reached the second round in 2021-22, then the Sweet 16 in 2022-23 behind star forward Maddy Siegrist.
Dillon reflected on the team’s chemistry and growth throughout the season as NCAA tournament expectations were confirmed.
“I said it back in the summer when we first got together, we already knew that this group had something special in them. … Now’s the time for them, certainly, to show their true potential,” Dillon said.