UWGB women’s basketball March Madness opponent is Alabama to open 2025 NCAA tournament bracket | Green Bay Press-Gazette

GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a win over Purdue Fort Wayne in the Horizon League title game last Tuesday.

It learned its opponent for the Big Dance during a watch party with Phoenix fans at the The Bar on Holmgren Way on Sunday night.

UWGB received a No. 12 seed and will play No. 5 Alabama on Saturday in College Park, Maryland, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Phoenix is making its 20th appearance in the NCAAs and its second straight after making it last season for the first time since 2018.

It is 6-19 all time in tournament play.

UWGB has lost in the opening round in each of its last six trips, including a 92-63 defeat to Tennessee in 2024. It last won a game in 2012, when as a No. 7 seed it beat No. 10 Iowa State in the first round before almost pulling off an upset against No. 2 Kentucky in 65-62 loss in the second round.

The Phoenix’s most memorable run came in 2011, when it made its only appearance in the Sweet 16.

It earned the highest seed in program history that season as a No. 5 seed under former coach Matt Bollant, a team that was led by former standout and current UWGB coach Kayla Karius.

The Phoenix beat No. 12 University of Arkansas at Little Rock and No. 4 Michigan State before losing to top-seeded Baylor and former star Brittney Griner.

Karius had one of the best games of her career in the loss to Baylor, finishing with 27 points in her final collegiate game.

She will make her debut as a head coach in the NCAAs after spending the last two seasons as the leader at South Dakota.

GRB: UWGB women’s basketball March Madness opponent is Alabama to open 2025 NCAA tournament bracket