The UMBC Women's Basketball team (16-14, 10-6 AE) will play in its first postseason tournament since 2017 when it plays at Ohio University in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Fan can watch the game on ESPN+.

The winner of Thursday night's contest will advance to the second round of the WNIT and face Sun Belt Conference foe, Marshall (23-9, 13-5 SBC), in Huntington, W. Va. You can view the full 2026 WNIT bracket here and Tournament Central here. 

The Retrievers were last in action on March 9 when they fell to top-seeded, and eventual America East champion, Vermont, 68-65, in double overtime in the Air Force Reserve America East Semifinals inside Patrick Gymnasium. 

UMBC very nearly completed a second straight furious comeback in the tournament, falling behind by 12 early in the third quarter before racing back to force overtime. 

Trailing 50-48 after Jadyn Weltz drained a pair of free throws with less than three seconds left, Jade Tillman received the inbound, drove baseline, and made the reverse layup at the buzzer to send the game to an extra period. 

In overtime, UMBC took a 58-56 lead with 15 seconds remaining as Tillman went one-for-two at the charity stripe after making a layup with 32 seconds left to give UMBC a one-point lead. The missed free throw allowed the Catamounts to look for a two, and Keira Hanson knocked down a pull-up jumper with just over two seconds left in the extra period. 

Vermont built a four-point lead in double overtime, but a Heidi Williams free throw and a Tillman bucket with 2:15 to play pulled the Retrievers within one. Vermont would outscore UMBC 4-2 over the final 1:52, holding onto a 68-65 victory to send it to the America East Championship. 

Tiara Bellamy scored nine points, pulled down seven rebounds, and nabbed three steals for UMBC. Kennedy Austin contributed six points, four rebounds, and four steals before fouling out. 

Tillman was phenomenal for the Retrievers, setting a new career-high with 32 points. She added 10 rebounds, two assists, one steal. and was named as one of five members of the America East All-Tournament Team. 

In UMBC's two games in the America East Tournament, Tillman averaged 26.5 points, 11 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 1.5 assists per game. Tillman scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, nabbed four steals, and hit the game-winning shot with 1.0 second left on the clock in a 66-65 victory over NJIT on March 5. She followed that up with a 32-point, 10-rebound effort in a double overtime loss to eventual champion Vermont in the America East Semifinal on Monday night. 

Tillman is just the second player in the past 20 years of America East Playoff action to record a double-double with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. Tillman is the first Retriever named to the All-Tournament team since 2011-12 when Erin Brown and Michelle Kurowski were honored. 


NOTES TO KNOW FROM THE GAME

• After falling behind 32-23 at halftime, UMBC held Vermont to just 18 points in the third and fourth quarters to force overtime. 
• Tillman finished the season with three straight double-doubles and a 23-game streak with 10 or more points. Tillman moved into the top-10 on the UMBC single-season scoring list, finishing the season with 476 points. With 10 free throws made tonight, Tillman moved into sixth all-time in UMBC history with 124 free throws. She finishes third in free-throw percentage at 86.1 percent. 
• Carmen Yánez is now 12th on the all-time assists list with 280 dimes. 

Scouting Ohio (18-13, 11-7 MAC):

In the field of 48 teams, Ohio is the only women's program that will be representing the Mid-American Conference. This is Ohio's first WNIT appearance since the 2021-22 season when they were defeated on the road by South Dakota State. This is the program's sixth overall appearance in the WNIT and the Bobcats have a 6-6 record at the tournament during head coach Bob Boldon's tenure.

No. 5 seed Ohio fell 80-52 to No. 1 seed Miami (27-6, 16-2 MAC) in the semifinals of the 2026 MAC Tournament on Friday, March 13 in Rocket Arena.
 
Ohio shot 28.4 percent from the field, 13.8 percent from the arc and 66.7 percent from the line. The Bobcats finished with 41 rebounds, seven assists, 11 steals and four blocks.
 
Redshirt sophomore Monica Williams (Indianapolis, Ind.) led the Bobcats in scoring with 18 points. Williams finished 6-for-13 from the field, 3-for-6 from the arc and 3-for-4 from the line. Graduate student Elli Garnett (Lakewood, Colo.) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in addition to eight points. Junior Bailey Tabeling (Seymour, Ind.) tallied a team-high four assists. Junior Asiah Baxter (Indianapolis, Ind.) led the team in steals with four total. Freshman ReRe Jennings (Killeen, Texas) finished with a team-high two blocks.

Tabeling was selected to the 2025-26 All-Mid-American Conference Second Team. After another season as one of Ohio's top performers, Tabeling has been named to the All-MAC Second Team. Tabeling started and played in 29 games; accumulating 877 minutes played while averaging 30.2 minutes per game. The junior averages 14.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Tabeling is currently shooting 38.4 percent from the field, 31.5 percent from the arc and 75.8 percent from the line. She ranks first on the team for points, – including field goals and three pointers made – assists, steals, blocks and minutes played. Tabeling also ranks second on the team for free throws made and third for rebounds.
 
Throughout this season, Tabeling has recorded 21 double-figure point games, five 20 plus point games and two double-doubles. She has led the team in scoring and assists in 13 games, in steals in 16 games and in rebounds in four games.