Samford Punches NCAA Tournament Ticket After SoCon Title Run (Copy)
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 9, 2026
Samford’s return to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament was technically accomplished over the past four days in the SoCon Tournament. But the three wins in Asheville, N.C., which include Sunday’s 72-67 triumph over top seed Chattanooga, was really an accumulation of what the Bulldogs have learned from the first day of what has been a trying season at times.
“What an unbelievable job by this group of players and our staff,” said Samford head coach Matt Wise, who is in his fourth season at the school and first as the head coach. “I said this in the TV interview, I think going through the non-conference schedule that we did, the 23rd hardest in the country, then starting in conference play 1-6 and not giving in when that had us up against a wall, prepared us for this moment. So, that when they had their biggest run of the game in the fourth quarter with the 9-0 run, it was unbelievable how unfazed the players were. They were so bought in on the process. They were so bought in on living one possession at a time, taking it one possession at a time, trying to win one possession at a time.”
Ultimately, that morphed into the program’s third trip to the NCAA Tournament and first since the Bulldogs took back-to-back trips to the dance in 2011 and 2012. That certainly seemed unlikely when Samford fell to 8-16 overall and 1-6 in SoCon play following a 61-40 loss Chattanooga on Feb. 1. But the Bulldogs finished 5-2, including a 77-70 win at home over Chattanooga on Feb. 26, to close out regular season play and take the No. 6 seed into the SoCon Tournament.
Samford beat No. 3 seed Wofford, 59-57, on Thursday afternoon behind 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals from senior Sierra Godbolt. The Bulldogs came back less than 24 hours later to knock off ETSU with freshman Francie Morris contributing 15 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
That set up the matchup with Chattanooga, which began with a 14-3 run by the Mocs. Not an ideal start for a Samford team that includes seven freshmen.
“Based on the fact that (Chattanooga) lost in this game a year ago, I thought they would come out very mentally and emotionally prepared to handle the moment, which they did,” Wise said. “They came out shooting the lights out, completely ready. We, as a staff, thought that was a possibility going in. So, when it happened, you know, (it’s said) ‘You don’t rise to what you hope and dream, you fall to what you prepare for.’ We were fully prepared.”
During a timeout, Wise and his staff made a quick defensive adjustment.
“Where it showed being a little tight in the moment was defensively,” Wise said. “We were playing one job at our time and playing our matchup. That’s not how we play. We fly around, we rotate for each other, we stunt for each other, we switch for each other. It’s based off our team defense. We were playing too individually defensively. That’s all I had to tell them, just that adjustment and it was like a night-and-day different team.”
By the end of the first quarter, the deficit was down to three points and by halftime Samford had a 35-27 lead. Samford had as much as a 13-point lead in the third quarter and took a 54-43 lead into the fourth quarter. Chattanooga trimmed the deficit to two points at one point and trailed by three in the final seconds. Sophomore Briana Rivera finally iced the win with a pair of free throws with two seconds left.
Freshman Kaylee Yarbrough came off the bench to contribute 25 points with five 3-pointers, Morris had 22 points, six rebounds and three assists and Godbolt had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists while playing all 40 minutes.
Samford will find out its NCAA Tournament path next Sunday.