2026 NCAA Division II Championship
Central Regional - Quarterfinals
#14 (3-seed) Fort Hays State Women's Basketball (24-5)
vs. #20 (6-seed) Harding (24-6)
Friday, March 13, 2026 • Noon
Mankato, Minn. • Taylor Center
 
The 14th-ranked Fort Hays State women's basketball team will face off with No. 20 Harding in the quarterfinal round of the 2026 NCAA Division II Central Region Championship tournament Friday afternoon (March 13). First tip between the Tigers (24-5) and Lady Bisons (24-6) is slated for noon inside the Taylor Center on the campus of Minnesota State in Mankato, Minn.
 
Game Coverage
- Free live video will be available on NCAA.com/live. Radio coverage will be available on KJLS 103.3 FM or online here, with voice of the Tigers Gerard Wellbrock on the call. Live stats will be available online here.
 
Tickets
- General admission tickets are available in advance or at the door at a cost of $10 for adults and $5 for youth and seniors. Tickets are good for all games on any given day of the tournament.
 
Quick Hits
- The Tigers have now qualified for the NCAA Championship tournament 11 times, including 10 appearances in the last 12 years, three more than any other school over the last dozen years (PSU and UCM, 7 each).
- This is the third-straight season the Tigers have been the No. 3 seed in the Central Regional.
- FHSU is 9-9 all-time in the tournament, 2-1 against GAC schools, 6-2 in the quarterfinal, 2-2 as the No. 3 seed, 2-0 against the No. 6 seed and 3-8 against nationally ranked teams.
- The Tigers are 5-1 all-time in games played in the state of Minnesota, including wins in four in a row.
- Talexa Weeter has been named D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year after also earning MIAA Player of the Year honors. Brooke Loewe was also a first team All-MIAA pick while Olivia Mortensen was on the third team.
- Now with a Division II-best 783 points this season, Talexa Weeter is 14 points away from tying the MIAA record for points in a season (797, Jennifer Harris, Washburn, 2005-06). With 27.0 points per game, Weeter leads DII and ranks second in scoring across all levels of NCAA women's basketball.
- Brooke Loewe leads all NCAA basketball, men and women spanning all divisions, with an MIAA-record 290 assists this season, breaking a 27-year-old MIAA record. Her 290 assists are 11th-most in DII history.
- After recording the first FHSU triple-double in 4,076 days two weeks ago against ESU, Loewe needed just nine days to record another one, tallying 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the overtime win over PSU. She is one of three DII players and one of eight across all NCAA women's basketball with multiple triple-doubles.
 
Weeter Named D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year
- Talexa Weeter was named the 2025-26 D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year.
- She is the second Tiger to earn the honor in the DII era (Kate Lehman, 2014-15) and is the eighth all-region selection for the Tigers.
 
Trio Named All-MIAA; Weeter POY
- The MIAA coaches named Talexa Weeter the 2025-26 MIAA Player of the Year.
- Weeter was joined on the All-MIAA first team by Brooke Loewe, with Olivia Mortensen earning third team honors.
- Mortensen is one of two freshmen to earn a spot on the first, second or third teams and is the first Tiger to do so since Kate Lehman (2011-12).
- The MIAA Player of the Year has been a Tiger each of the last three seasons, the first time one school has had three-straight league MVPs since 2008-10 (Emporia State).
- Fort Hays State has had five MIAA Players of the Year since joining the league 20 years ago, tied for the most by any school during that span (ESU).
- The Tigers have two first-team selections for the second year in a row and the seventh time in team history.
 
NCAA Tournament Notes
- Fort Hays State is playing in its 10th Central Regional in the last 12 years, three more than any other school during that span (PSU 7, UCM 7, ESU 6, MSU 6, UMD 6, HU 5, ATU 4, MWSU 4, Northern St. 4, SWOSU 4, MSUM 3, SNU 3, UNK 3, SCSU 3, CSP 2, AU 2, LWU 2, MSSU 2, USF 2, UCO 1, HSU 1, NWMSU 1, NWOSU 1, SEOSU 1, SMSU 1, WU 1, Winona St. 1, Wayne St. 1).
- This is the third-straight season the Tigers have been the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
- The Tigers are 2-1 against GAC teams in the tournament.
- FHSU is 6-2 in the quarterfinal round.
- The Tigers are 2-2 as the No. 3 seed, with FHSU advancing to the semifinals before bowing out as the third seed each of the last two seasons.
- FHSU is 2-0 against the No. 6 seed.
- The Tigers are 3-4 in neutral site contests in the tournament. The Tigers have never played a tournament game in the state of Minnesota.
- FHSU is 3-8 against nationally ranked teams in the tournament.
- The Tigers are 7-6 in the tournament when nationally ranked.
- FHSU is 2-5 against ranked teams while the Tigers are also ranked at the same time.
- Brooke Loewe averages 5.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg and 4.8 apg in four career tournament games, including three games with five or more assists.
- Talexa Weeter averages 14.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 1.3 apg in three career tournament games, including a pair of 20-point performances last season.
- Pittsburg State (2025) and Minnesota Duluth (2023) both won the Central Regional as the No. 1 seed after a span of 10 years without a top seed advancing to the Elite Eight (Wayne State 2012).
 
Land of 10,000 Wins
- The Tigers are 5-1 all-time in the state of Minnesota, including wins in each of their last four games in the Gopher State.
- FHSU played two non-conference games against NSIC teams in three-straight seasons beginning in 2014-15 until 2016-17.
- The Tigers defeated Bemidji State and lost to Concordia-St. Paul in St. Paul in 2014 before beating Upper Iowa and Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall in 2015 and knocking off St. Cloud State and Bemidji State in St. Cloud in 2016.
 
20 Wins Now the Norm
- Fort Hays State has reached the 20-win plateau for a 15th-consecutive season, extending the longest active streak of 20-win seasons in Division II. FHSU's streak is tied for the fifth-longest active streak of 20-win seasons across all NCAA divisions.
- FHSU reached the 20-win plateau just eight times over the first 42 years of the program before the current streak began in 2011-12, including no more than two consecutive 20-win campaigns during that time.
- The next-best active streak of 20-win seasons in the MIAA is four (MWSU), while the next-best streak in DII is Drury with 12.
- Only four DI programs have longer active stretches of 20-win seasons, including UConn (33), Baylor (26), Florida Gulf Coast (21 but in danger of losing streak this season) and Louisville (16), while FHSU is tied with South Carolina and South Dakota St.
 
National/MIAA Rankings
- The Tigers lead all Division II with an average of 18.8 assists per game. FHSU tops the league and ranks third nationally in defensive rebounds per game (31.4 drpg), seventh in field goal percentage (46.1 percent), seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.25), 10th in fewest fouls per game (13.3 fpg), 18th in winning percentage (82.8 percent), 24th in 3-point percentage (34.3 percent) and 24th in scoring offense (75.6 ppg).
- Talexa Weeter leads Division II and is tied for second across all NCAA divisions with an average of 27.0 points per game.
- Loewe's 17 assists against Nebraska-Kearney are the most in a game across all NCAA divisions of women's basketball this season and second-most across all divisions including men's basketball (Arkansas-Pine Bluff's Quion Williams had 18 assists vs. Champion Christian).
- Weeter's 45 points against Northwest Missouri State are tied for second-most by a DII athlete this season.
- Weeter ranks third in the MIAA in rebounds (8.8 per game) and second in the MIAA in field goal percentage (51.2 percent).
- Olivia Mortensen ranks third in the conference with a field goal percentage of 48.6 percent.
 
1K Magic
- Talexa Weeter surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in the first quarter against Rogers State earlier this season (Jan. 23).
- She is the 26th player in program to hit that milestone.
- The Goodland, Kan. native needed only 62 games to reach that threshold, second-fastest in team history (Annette Wiles 57 games, Shauna Porter 65 games).
 
Double Digit Scoring
- Talexa Weeter has scored in double figures in all 29 games this season and 39 straight dating back to last season.
 
700 Points in a Season
- Talexa Weeter surpassed the 700-point plateau in the first quarter against Missouri Southern.
- She is the second player at FHSU and the fifth in MIAA history to reach that milestone. Weeter is the first to do so in the MIAA in 20 years and the first at FHSU since Annette Wiles during FHSU's NAIA championship run in 1990-91.
 
30 Point Performances
- Talexa Weeter eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the 11th time this season and the 12th time in her career at Pittsburg State late in the regular season.
- She is the second Tiger with 10 or more 30-point games (Annette Wiles, 14).
 
Triple Trouble
- Brooke Loewe is one of three NCAA Division II athletes and one of eight across all levels of NCAA women's basketball with multiple triple-doubles this season.
- Brooke Loewe totaled 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the win over Emporia State, putting together the first Tiger triple-double since 2014 (Kate Lehman - 31p, 10r, 11b vs. Kansas Wesleyan, 12/16/14).
- After recording the first FHSU triple-double in 4,076 days against ESU, Loewe needed just nine days to duplicate that effort, totaling 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the come-from-behind win over Pittsburg State on Saturday.
- She is the third FHSU player in FHSU's DII history to record a triple-double and the second to do so multiple times (Kate Lehman 3, Amy Scoby).
 
Dropping Dimes
- Brooke Loewe leads all NCAA basketball, men and women, all divisions, with 290 assists, breaking a 27-year-old MIAA record.
- With an average of 10.0 assists per game, the Huxley, Iowa native is the only player in all divisions averaging in double figures.
- Her 290 assists this season are tied for 11th-most in a single season in NCAA Division II history.
- She needs 36 assists to tie the NCAA Division II record for assists in a season (326, Kailee Howe, West Liberty, 2015-16).
- After tying the school record with 13 assists in a game last season, Brooke has tallied 14 or more assists six times this season. Only three other players in Division II have done so once.
- Should Loewe reach 300 assists this season, she would be the sixth player in DII history and the 25th player in the history of NCAA women's basketball to do so.
- Should she finish the season averaging in double figures, it would be just the sixth time a DII athlete accomplished that feat and she would be just the fourth individual to do so (Selina Bynum of Albany State did so three times in 1990-93).
 
Last Time Out
- The No. 11 Tigers fell to Missouri Western in overtime in the 2026 MIAA Championship quarterfinals last Thursday (March 5), 77-68.
- Talexa Weeter hit a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining to tie the score at 65, sending things to overtime.
- The Tigers trailed by nine early on before taking an eight-point lead into the locker room. It was the first time this season that the Tigers have lost after leading at halftime.
- Olivia Mortensen totaled 20 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for her second double-double, while Talexa Weeter tied for the team lead with 20 points and nine rebounds.
 
Series History with Harding
- Fort Hays State is 1-0 all-time against Harding.
- The lone matchup was a neutral site meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. as part of the 2019 Cruzin Classic.
- FHSU holds a one-game winning streak in the series overall.
- This is the first meeting between the teams in the postseason and the first during the Talia Kahrs era.
 
Last Meeting with the Lady Bisons
- The No. 16 Tigers defeated the Lady Bisons 89-48 on day one of the 2019 Cruzin Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- The Tigers had seven players score at least seven points in the contest, led by 14 from Lanie Page.
- FHSU outrebounded the Lady Bisons by 11, 53-42, while limiting HU to a shooting percentage of 26.2 percent (17-of-65).

GAC-Tastic
- Fort Hays State is 1-0 against teams currently in the Great American Conference under head coach Talia Kahrs and 19-12 all-time.

FHSU vs. GAC All-Time
Arkansas Tech - 1-0
Harding - 1-0
Northwestern Oklahoma State - 9-10
Oklahoma Baptist - 0-1
Southeastern Oklahoma State - 1-0
Southwestern Oklahoma State - 4-1
Southern Nazarene - 3-0
 
On This Date
- The Tigers are 1-1 in recorded history on March 13, falling to Central Missouri 72-68 in the 2021 Central Region semifinals after defeating Minnesota State 74-57 in the 2015 Central Region quarterfinals.
- Fort Hays State was the top seed each time, but only the 2015 game was played in Hays. The 2021 tournament was played at a predetermined site (Warrensburg, Mo.) due to the global pandemic.
 
Class of the Conference
- Since joining the MIAA in 2006-07 (20 seasons), the Tigers lead the league with 435 wins. They have averaged close to 22 wins per season during that time.
 
MIAA Athlete of the Week x 7
- Fort Hays State has earned seven MIAA Athlete of the Week honors this season, including five for Talexa Weeter and two for Brooke Loewe. The entire rest of the league has a combined eight such awards this season, with only one school picking up multiple honors.
- Weeter's five weekly honors are the most by a player in the league since Brooke Littrell in 2022-23 and are the most for a Tiger since Kate Lehman had seven in 2014-15.
- Weeter averaged 32.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 60.5 percent from the floor in the first two games of the season.
- The Goodland, Kan. native then averaged 33.5 points and 10.0 rebounds in the two wins in Denver before Thanksgiving.
- Weeter totaled 32 points and 13 rebounds in a blowout win over No. 6 Pittsburg State.
- She erupted for an average of 37 points and 12 rebounds with a pair of double-doubles against Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western, including a career-high 45 points against the Bearcats that is one off the program record and is tied for the most points scored by a DII athlete this season.
- Loewe earned the award on January 13 after breaking the school record with 17 assists at Nebraska-Kearney and following that up with 15 assists against Northwest Missouri State. Both totals are more than any other DII athlete this season, while her 17 assists are the most across all NCAA divisions this season and are the most by a DII athlete since 2023. She averaged a double-double for the week with 10.0 points and 16.0 assists.
- Weeter collected her fifth honor of the season on January 26 after averaging 26.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in wins over Rogers State and Central Oklahoma. She surpassed 1,000 career points in the win over the Hillcats.
- Loewe picked up her second weekly recognition after averaging a double-double (12.0 ppg, 11.0 apg) in road wins at Northeastern State and Arkansas-Fort Smith. She totaled 14 points and 14 assists in the win over NSU, surpassing 14 assists for the sixth time this season.
 
Making it a Habit
- After reaching the NCAA Tournament once in its first 23 years in the Association, Fort Hays State has now been selected to compete in the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship 10 times over the last 12 seasons.
 
Double-Digit Winning Streaks
- FHSU's season-long winning streak of 12 games is the 17th double-digit streak in team history and is tied for seventh-longest in team history.
- Fort Hays State had multiple unique 10-game winning streaks in a season three times, in 1990-91, 2018-19 and 2024-25.
 
Century Mark
- FHSU has 25 100-point outings in its illustrious history, most recently a 100-59 win over Rogers State (2/20/20), which was the first time FHSU scored 100 points against a Division II opponent since 2013 (114-86 vs Newman, 1/26/13).
 
Home Sweet Home
- Fort Hays State is leading Division II with an average attendance of 2,349 fans per game.
- That would rank 71st in Division I, higher than three Big 12 schools (Cincinnati, UCF, Houston), two Big 10 schools (Penn State, Northwestern) and one SEC school (Florida).
- Three of the top five attended games this season in Division II and six of the top 12 have been played inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.
- The Tigers led Division II with an average attendance of 2,084 per home contest last season. That total would rank 84th in DI and was more than 282 DI programs.
 
Looking Ahead
- The winner of Friday's quarterfinal will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, March 14 to take on either No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul or No. 7 Northwestern Oklahoma State beginning at 5 p.m.