BOSTON -- The Northeastern women's basketball team (7-21, 3-15 CAA) heads to Washington, D.C. for the 2026 Credit Union 1 CAA Women's Basketball Championship, opening tournament play on Wednesday against UNCW (6-23, 2-16 CAA) in a first-round matchup at CareFirst Arena. The No. 12-seeded Huskies take on the No. 13-seeded Seahawks with a spot in Thursday's second round on the line, where the winner will face No. 5 Monmouth at 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday's first-round contest tips off at 2 p.m. on FloCollege.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1. HUSKIES IN THE TOURNEY Northeastern is searching for its ninth overall victory in the CAA Tournament, with an 8-19 all-time record in the tourney across 19 appearances since joining the conference in 2005-06. The Huskies' deepest run came in 2022-23, when they earned the No. 3 seed and advanced to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Monmouth. Northeastern's most recent tournament victory came on March 14, 2024, a 66-60 first-round win over UNCW as the No. 11 seed in Washington, D.C. The Huskies are a perfect 3-0 against the Seahawks in CAA Tournament play, having also defeated UNCW in the 2006 first round (63-54) and the 2019 first round (75-64). Wednesday's first-round matchup marks the fourth postseason meeting between the two programs and Northeastern's second straight year opening the tournament against UNCW.
2. SCOUTING UNCW The Seahawks enter the CAA Tournament at 6-23 overall and 2-16 in conference play in year three under head coach Nicole Woods. UNCW's only two CAA wins this season came against Northeastern (69-67, Jan. 2) and Hofstra (54-46, Jan. 4), and the Seahawks have lost 11 of their last 12 games entering the tournament. Northeastern leads the all-time series 25-12, but UNCW took the regular-season meeting 69-67 on January 2 in Wilmington, a game in which the Seahawks forced 25 turnovers.
3. LAST TIME OUT Northeastern closed the regular season with a 62-46 loss to Hofstra on senior day at Cabot Center on Saturday, as the Pride's hot three-point shooting proved to be the difference. Hofstra connected on 11-of-22 from beyond the arc while the Huskies shot just 17.6% (3-of-17) from deep. Justice Tramble led Northeastern with 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting and nine made free throws, adding five rebounds. Nariyah Simmons contributed nine points, five rebounds, and three assists in her final home game, while Camryn Collins chipped in six points and three assists. The Huskies shot 33.3% from the field but went 13-of-16 from the free throw line. Before the game, the Huskies honored their three seniors: graduate assistant Taniyah Thompson, who brought a wealth of collegiate and professional playing experience from stints at Georgia, Penn State, East Carolina, and overseas in Turkey; senior guard Natalie Larrañaga, a Guatemala Senior National Team member who scored 188 points with 73 rebounds and 37 assists in her season at Northeastern; and graduate guard Nariyah Simmons, the 5-foot-2 sparkplug from St. Louis who tallied over 540 career points and 230 rebounds across three collegiate seasons while dishing out 50 assists as a Husky.
