KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Washburn University’s women’s basketball team was crowned the MIAA Tournament Champion for the first time in 13 years. The No. 3-seeded Ichabods defeated the top-seeded Jennies 53-44 in the 2026 MIAA women’s championship game to claim the program’s 10th tournament title.
 
The league’s top ten teams from the 2025-26 regular season advanced to the Association’s postseason championship tournament, hosted March 4-8 in Kansas City’s historic Municipal Auditorium. Washburn earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament with an MIAA record of 14-5.
 
The Ichabods downed No. 6 seed Pittsburg State 60-49 in the MIAA quarterfinals and defeated No. 7 seed Missouri Western 67-63 in Saturday’s semifinals to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2012. They went on to claim the 2026 championship crown with a 53-44 win over Central Missouri in the tournament finale on Sunday, March 8.
 
Washburn’s Gabi Giovannetti led all scorers in the championship game with 17 points, which included a 10-for-10 showing at the foul line. Central Missouri’s Reece Schaaf led the Jennies with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the game’s lone double-double performance.
 
With the 2026 title, Washburn now owns more MIAA tournament championships than any other MIAA member. The championship is also the first under four-year Head Coach Lora Westling, a former Ichabod women’s basketball player.
 
Washburn men were also crowned champions of the 2026 MIAA Men’s Basketball Championship with a dominant, 91-59 win over Rogers State. It’s the eighth time in tournament history that the same institution has won both men’s and women’s tournament titles. The last team to do so was Washburn in 2012.
 
Five talented players were named to the 2026 MIAA Women’s Basketball Championship’s All-Tournament Team: Missouri Western’s Mia Morel, Central Missouri’s Taylor Weishaar and Reese Schaaf, and Washburn’s Gabi Giovannetti and Yiibari Nwidadah. Nwidadah was honored as the 2026 Tournament MVP.
 
To view the official schedule and find the final results from each game of the 2026 MIAA Basketball Championships, visit theMIAA.com/basketball.
 
The win awards the Ichabods with the Association’s automatic qualifier into the 2026 NCAA Division II postseason. The official 64-team bracket for the 2026 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship will be announced during the Division II Selection Show, scheduled for Sunday, March 8, at 9:30 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.