The women’s 2026 Summit League conference tournament is tomorrow, so let’s take a look at where every team stands heading into the bracket.
The clear frontrunners
The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds both hail from the Dakotas, No. 1 seed North Dakota State and the No. 2 seed South Dakota State have separated themselves from the rest of the gap by quite a large margin.
They both sit more than 1.5 games in front of third place and sit in the top four in the conference for total offense and total defense. North Dakota State has the edge, coming into the tournament with a mark of 80.5 points per game, the best in the conference and 18th best in the NCAA, while allowing 59.8 points per game, the second least in the conference.
Now looking over at the Jackrabbits, they are without a doubt the hottest team in the conference, winning seven in a row, the only team to even have a multi-win streak in the Summit right now.
South Dakota State has scored 77.1 points per game, the second most in the conference and 30th best in the NCAA, while allowing 61.7 points per game, the fourth least in the conference. The Bison also have a better conference record at 15-1, just over South Dakota State’s 14-2 record.
However, that one loss on the Bison’s otherwise perfect record came from a home blowout loss to none other than the Jackrabbits, 59-44. South Dakota State dominated the game in Fargo thanks to some excellent perimeter defense that held the Bison to 31% from the field and to just 14% from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the court, the Jackrabbits dominated the interior, scoring 42 of their 59 points in the paint. Looking at individual players, both teams have some star power, as the Jackrabbits are led by forward Brooklyn Meyer, who has scored 22.1 points per game, good for the tenth most in the nation and very most in the conference.
Meyer also has a field goal percentage of 65.3% on the season, good for second most in the nation and the very most in the conference along with the seventh most total field goals, also a conference high.
It doesn’t stop there however, as Meyer is 14th in nation in free throws made (second most in conference) with 146 and she can defend the interior too, collecting 53 blocks on the season, good for the 27th most in the nation and second most in the conference.
Meyer has some help too, as Emilee Fox leads the nation with a three-point percentage that sits at exactly 50%.
Thankfully for the Bison, they have a response and her name is Avery Koenen. Koenen leads the team in both points per game with 19.2, the 29th most in the nation and third most in the conference, and rebounds per game with an 11th best in the nation 11 rebounds per game.
Koenen also gets to the charity stripe a lot, raking in the eight most made free throws in that nation with a conference best 159 made free throws. It doesn’t stop there however, as Koenen shot at a 64.7% clip, good for the fifth best mark in the nation and second best in the conference (right behind Meyer at second).
However, where Koenen has Meyer beat again is in double-doubles, as Koenen has totaled up a conference best 19 double-doubles on the season, tied for the fifth most in the nation.
Looking at team statistics, these two go back and forth with impressive stats, with South Dakota State sitting inside the top 30 of six different major metrics while North Dakota State has seven.
South Dakota
There’s a clear gap between the top two teams in this conference and then the field with the Coyotes sitting right in the middle of this vast chasm of talent. South Dakota ends the regular season with a total record of 22-8 and a conference record of 12-4 with the next closest record being 8-8.
The Coyotes are 11-1 against teams who aren’t named North Dakota State or South Dakota State on the season. They are undoubtedly led by senior guard Angelina Robles who has scored a team best 15.7 points per game and has a team best 3.1 assists per game while hitting at a 38.7% clip from beyond the arc.
However, the real lifeblood for this squad is their defense which has allowed a conference low and NCAA 39th least 58.4 points per game, allowing the conference lowest and NCAA 12th lowest field percentage of 35.6%.
One last thing of note, the team has a shooting clip of 80.4% from the charity stripe, the best mark in the conference and fourth best in the nation. This makes the Coyotes a potentially bad matchup for the Jackrabbits who have fouled 13 times per game, the 12th most in the nation.
The middle ground
Oral Roberts and St. Thomas both sit with an 8-8 conference record at the end of the regular season, with the Golden Eagles sitting at a total record of 15-14 and the Tomcats with a slightly worse record of 15-15.
Oral Roberts lives through their offense and dies through their defense, as the Golden Eagles have scored 76.9 points per game, the 32nd most in the nation and third most in the conference behind you know who.
They’ve garnered this offense success through their shooting, firing away at a field goal clip of 76.9% and a nation’s 33rd best three-point percentage of 34.97%, both the third best marks in the conference.
Six Golden Eagles shoot at above a 46.7% mark, further establishing their sharp shooting abilities. Five of these players are guards, showcasing their true strength of slashing. These five, led by Jalei Oglesby who has scored 16.2 points per game, good for fourth most in the conference, have consistently made their way into the paint and scored often.
When they don’t hit the field goal, they often go to the line where they shoot at the charity stripe where they’ve made the 36th most free throws per game at 14.62, also the third best mark in the conference.
The Tomcats of St. Thomas’ strength has come from their shooting defense, logging a conference best, and 42nd in the nation most, 4.4 bpg. They have also allowed the fourth lowest opponent field goal percentage in the conference at 40.6% and the third lowest three-point field goal percentage at 30.2%.
On the other end of the court, the Tomcats have shot at a 44.7% field goal percentage, which is the third best mark in the conference. Leading the way for St. Thomas is no doubt the forward Alyssa Sand who is on top of the Tomcats in four different metrics. Sand has the most points per game with 14.1, most rebounds per game with 7.8, most steals per game with 2.3 and most blocks per game with 1.4. In short, she is the soul of the team.
The rest of the field
It’s at this point where we get to the teams that would really have to change things around if they were to have any kind of chance in the conference tournament. The Denver Pioneers are what you could maybe call the “best of the worst”, though not by much as they sit with a final record of 11-18 and a conference record of 5-11.
The Pioneers rank in the bottom five of the conference in almost every single metric besides steals which they have the third most of in the conference at an average of 8.48 takeaways per game.
The offense of this team runs through one person and one person only and that is sophomore guard Coryn Watts who has carried the Denver offense all season. Watts leads the team with 19.9 points per game, which is good for the 18th most in the nation and second most in the conference. She also is tied for the eighth most three pointers per game with exactly three per matchup, good for the very most in the conference.
However, these stats come with a caveat of the fact that Watts is truly the entire offense, as she is tied for the 11th most minutes, and most in conference, with 36.27 minutes per game. She also is tied for the 10th most field goals taken with 499 on the season, the most by far in the conference along with having the most attempted three pointers in the conference, 12th most in the nation, with 230 total attempted three pointers.
So essentially, unless Watts is able to turn into Superwoman, the Pioneers don’t have a great chance, especially considering their abysmal shooting from the beyond the arch, sitting as a team at a clip of 29.4%, the second worst in the conference, along with their 13.9 fouls per game, the second most in the conference.
Now looking over to the Roos of Kansas City who finished the season with a total record of 7-22 and a conference record of 4-12. The Roos, similarly to Denver, don’t stand out statistically all that much, sitting in the bottom five of the conference in every statistic besides team field goal percentage from beyond the arch, team offensive rebounds, their total turnover margin, and steals.
While Kansas City has a solid shooting clip of 34.2% from downtown, it comes with the fact that they have attempted just 442 attempts for three, by far the least amount in the conference. This has resulted in them making a league low 5.2 three pointers per game despite the solid shooting percentage that they have.
Still, the Roos possess a certain scrappiness that has been able to get them a few victories on the season, as exemplified by their conference leading 13.1 offensive rebounds per game, led by Elauni Bennett who sits at eighth in the nation, and most in the conference, 4.2 offensive boards per game.
They’re also great with the ball, possessing a +3.31 turnover margin on the season, the third best mark in the conference, along with the second most steals in the conference with 8.97 takeaways per game.
These results come from a collective effort by five separate guards who all average over a steal per game. The Roos also possess a solid scorer in Elauni Bennett’s sister, Emani Bennett, who currently sits with a team best 14.3 points per game, however, it is important to mention that she also has 418 field goal attempts on the season, the 46th most in the nation and second most in the conference.
This is slightly offset by Elauni Bennett 12.6 points per game on 57.45% field goal percentage on the season, good for 21st best in the nation and third best in the conference.
The North Dakota Fighting Hawks situation looks rather dire, finishing their regular season at 7-23 overall and 3-13 in conference. Both their offense and defense aren’t good, with their offense sitting at an average of 59.5 points per game, the second worst in the conference, while their defense isn’t much better, allowing an average of 73 points per game, the third most in the conference.
The offense banked heavily on shooting, specifically from beyond the arch and it failed. The Fighting Hawks attempted an average of 25.3 three pointers per game, the 33rd most in the nation and very most in the conference.
This resulted in a solid average of seven made three pointers per game, the third most in the conference, however, it came at the cost of a lot of wasted possessions, as the Fighting Hawks shot just 27.6% from deep, the very worst percentage in the conference.
To add on to the waste of possessions, North Dakota also ended the season with a -6.8 turnover margin, the second worst mark in the conference. They also didn’t have very long possessions as evidenced by their average of just 11.27 assists per game, the second least in the conference.
To make things even worse, the Fighting Hawks haven’t been able to get that many extra possessions from steals, posting just an average of 5.3 steals per game, the very least in the conference.
The only thing that North Dakota did exceptionally well throughout the season was defensive rebounding, averaging 28 defensive boards per game, good for the 37th most in the nation and third most in the conference.
Individually wise, no one stuck out all that much besides senior guard Mackenzie Hughes who led the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game, assists with 3.5 assists per game, and steals with one per game.
To add on to things, while the defensive rebounding was good, the perimeter defense was not, as North Dakota allowed a conference worst 36.6% three point shooting percentage.
Finally we have the Omaha Mavericks who sit at just 5-26 on the season and 3-13 in conference and it’s not hard to see why. The Mavericks currently possess both the worst offense and defense in the conference, with the offense scoring just 54.8 points per game and the defense allowing 76.8 points per game. As a result, their average point margin on the season is -22.
The team also ranks as the worst in field goal percentage with a shooting clip of 34% and opponent field goal percentage which sits all the way up at 44.9%. Omaha also sits at the bottom of the conference in turnover margin with a mark of -7.1 and assist to turnover margin which sits at a ratio of 0.54.
To sum up, their shooting, defending on both the interior and perimeter, steals, and assists are all sitting near or at the bottom of the conference. They seemingly are good at three point shooting, making an average of 7.1 threes per game, the second most in the conference, however, like North Dakota, this is simply due to a large amount of three pointers taken. The Mavericks attempted 741 threes on the season, the second most in the conference, shooting at just a 29.8% clip from beyond the arch.
The only true standout that Omaha has is freshman forward Avril Smith who has the fifth most rebounds in the country, and very most in the conference, pulling in a total of 357 rebounds on the year.
Smith’s ability to get boards isn’t limited to just one side of the ball either, as she has the second most offensive rebounds per game in the conference with 3.7 and ranks at ninth in the nation, and first in the conference, in defensive rebounds per game with 11.5.
She also offers an excellent presence in the paint defensively, racking up 69 blocks on the year, good for the ninth most in the nation and very most in the conference. Sarai Estupiñan also serves as a minor threat if she can get into the paint and draw some contact, as she possesses the 46th best free throw percentage in the nation at 85.7%, good for second best mark in the conference.
The play-in game will be played between North Dakota and Omaha at 4:30 P.M. on March 4th, the quarterfinals will begin with South Dakota State and Kansas City at noon on March 5th before North Dakota State takes on the winner of the play-in game 25 minutes later. Then at noon on March 6th Oral Roberts will play St. Thomas and 25 minutes after that South Dakota will take on Denver.