STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Women's Basketball has earned a first round bye in the 2025 Women's National Invitational Tournament and will play either Lindenwood or Tulsa in its first-ever Division I postseason tournament March 23-25. 

The Texans, who clinched the WAC's automatic bid to the event by finishing second in the conference in 2025, are coming off its best season in the Division I Era after winning a single season D1 program record 20 games. Tarleton State was the only team from the WAC to obtain a first round bye for the WNIT. 

Tarleton State will potentially host its second round game against Lindenwood/Tulsa at Wisdom Gym March 23-25. Tip time, location, and date for the second round games are to be determined. 

Predicted to finish sixth in the conference's preseason poll, Tarleton State clinched the conference's No. 2 seed and advanced to its first-ever Division I conference semifinal last week. The Texans also finished with a Division I program record 13 wins in Stephenville in the final basketball season at Wisdom Gym, dominating its Wisdom Gym Farewell game on March 6 against California Baptist 75-44. 

Under second-year head coach Bill Brock, the Texans improved by nine wins from a year ago in 2024-25. Brock, a three-time national champion from Baylor, is the first coach in program history to guide the Texans to an NCAA postseason event within the first two years leading Tarleton State.  

Tarleton State was led by a core of veteran players in 2024-25, including eight seniors (Jakoriah Long, Miannah Little, Arieona Rosborough, Niki Van Wyk, Elise Turrubiates, Tyler Jackson, Alani Fluker and Andjela Bigović). Long led the Texans in WAC play, scoring at least 20 points in four different WAC games en route to earning All-WAC Second Team honors. Long also made program history by becoming the first Texan in the Division I Era to record back-to-back 25-point games and broke the Division I single game program record for 3-pointers with seven twice this year.

The Texans got an offensive boost this season with Rosborough, a transfer Mary Hardin-Baylor, who led the Texans in scoring with 12.2 points per game. After being named to the Fleur-De-Lis All-Tournament Team at the 2024 Big Easy Classic, Rosborough set the Division I single season program record for offensive rebounds (89) and made free throws (123). 

After earning All-WAC Freshman Team honors in 2024, sophomore Faith Acker gave the Texans a boost in her second year of collegiate basketball. Acker led the Texans in double-doubles with four and averaged 17 points and 9.3 rebounds over her last three games. 

Powered by Triple Crown Sports, the WNIT enters its 27th season of rewarding the depth found in women's college basketball. The Postseason WNIT is the longest current running postseason event for women's college basketball, in addition to the NCAA Tournament, and has afforded hundreds of opportunities for schools in every conference to play in the postseason. Past champions of the WNIT include Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, UCLA, Oklahoma State and other Power 4 conference programs. 

Second round opponent, date, location and tip time will be announced at the conclusion of the Tulsa/Lindenwood game. The two schools face off in the first round at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Go to TarletonSports.com and @TarletonWBB on X and Instagram for the latest updates and information.