Pair of Upsets Make For Interesting First Night In Women's Basketball Tournament
CHICAGO --- A pair of upsets made for quite the first night of the 2026 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament as No. 7-seeded St. Ambrose University and No. 5 Governors State University advanced along with top-seeded Olivet Nazarene University and No. 3 Indiana University South Bend on Tuesday night.
SAU had the bigger of the two upsets by knocking off No. 2 University of St. Francis 68-66 on the road. Governors State, meanwhile, needed overtime to get past No. 4 Saint Xavier University by a 69-61 count. The other two contests had Olivet Nazarene rolling past No. 8 Holy Cross College 109-87 and Indiana South Bend getting by No. 6 Viterbo University 71-65.
Those contests set up Thursday's semifinal round with Olivet Nazarene (23-6) hosting Governors State (19-10) and St. Ambrose (15-14) traveling to Indiana South Bend (22-7). During the regular season, each of the four opponents split with each other. Governors State handed ONU its only loss in the last two months back on Feb. 4 in an 87-73 contest. The other matchup on Dec. 3 was a two-point victory (91-89) for the Tigers.
In the SAU-IUSB series, St. Ambrose triumphed on the road 70-69 way back on Nov. 15, with the Titans earning a 65-53 win on Jan. 24.
The two winners on Thursday advance to Saturday's championship tilt.
Recapping Tuesday:
Olivet Nazarene 109, Holy Cross 87
Olivet Nazarene jumped out to a 30-point first-half lead to run away with the victory. The Tigers were also aided by 26 offensive rebounds. Calee Biedron led the way with 21 points and six assists, with Lindsey Nell providing another 19 points and five steals. Allie Caldwell topped the HCC charts with her 31 points and eight rebounds, but the Saints hurt themselves by committing 44 turnovers.
St. Ambrose 68, St. Francis 66
The tight game throughout came down to a pair of Caitlyn Thole free throws with 35 seconds remaining. She finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Abby Wolter led SAU with 21 points to go along with five rebounds. St. Francis received 23 points and seven rebounds from Tykara Harrison. The Saints held a 45-27 rebounding advantage, but committed 20 turnovers on the night.
Governors State 69, Saint Xavier 61 (OT)
Kalvina Eubanks hit a clutch three-pointer late in the game to force overtime and then Governors State outscored Saint Xavier 10-2 in the extra period to complete the upset. Eubanks went on to author a double-double (20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists), while Davina Smith contributed another 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Veronica Bafia also had 20 points for Saint Xavier, which hit just 10 of its 18 free throw attempts (.556).
Indiana South Bend 71, Viterbo 65
Viterbo hung with Indiana South Bend, but four Titans scoring in double figures eventually did the V-Hawks in. Tenleigh Phelps led the effort with her 18 points and seven rebounds. Kenzie Fulks was right behind with her 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. IUSB also hit 15 of its 17 free throws (.882). Carly Drew topped the Viterbo charts with her 16 points and seven boards.
The complete schedule and results follow:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Game #1: No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene 109, No. 8 seed Holy Cross 87
Game #2: No. 5 seed Governors State 60, No. 4 seed Saint Xavier 61
Game #3: No. 7 seed St. Ambrose 68, No. 2 seed St. Francis 66
Game #4: No. 3 seed Indiana South Bend 71, No. 6 seed Viterbo 65
Thursday, February 26, 2026 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: No. 5 seed Governors State (19-10) at No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene (23-6) --- 5:30 pm
Game #6: No. 7 seed St. Ambrose (15-14) at No. 3 seed Indiana South Bend (22-7) --- 6 pm
Saturday, February 28, 2026 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: Winner-Game #5 vs. Winner-Game #6 --- TBA