Clipper Men’s and Women’s Basketball Squads Qualify to 2026 NWAC Basketball Championships

The South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams have qualified for the 2026 NWAC Basketball Championships set to take place from March 4 to 8 at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Wash. The men’s team will now face off against the Southwestern Oregon Lakers on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at 6 p.m., and the women’s team will take on the Umpqua Riverhawks on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the Sweet 16 round of the tournament.

“The culture we are trying to build at SPSCC is a culture of championship experiences for all students,” said SPSCC Athletic Director Vernell Willingham. “We have student-athletes competing at a high level, both on and off the court. [The qualification of both teams] is extremely exciting for the athletic department, the campus, and the community.”

The Clipper Men’s Basketball team finished the regular season with a 21-8 overall record for the year and a 10-4 record in a difficult West Region, good enough for the #3 seed in the West Region. Now, the Clippers look for payback as they take on the team that eliminated them from the tournament last year in the #2 seed from the South Region, the Southwestern Oregon Lakers.

The men will rely a lot on sophomore center Jeremiah Lewis if they wish to replicate last year’s deep run in the playoffs. Lewis has been a vocal leader for the team and has backed up his talk with his play. He is fourth in average rebounds per game (9.5) in the league and has the third-best field goal percentage in all of the NWAC, shooting 66.8% from the field this season.

In his fourth year at the helm of the Clipper Men’s Basketball team, Head Coach Zach Smith has qualified for the NWAC Basketball Championships every single year. Smith reflected on his perfect 4-for-4 record in qualifying to the tournament, “I say it every year, but it really is a testament to SPSCC as a whole and the support that we have. The support we have here makes the success feel worth it because we get to go out there and represent South Puget Sound and all the people that support us throughout the year.”

The Lady Clippers have qualified for the NWAC Basketball Championships for the second year in a row as they ended the regular season with a 19-7 overall record with a 10-2 West Region record and finished as the #2 seed in the region. The women’s team now faces a rematch against an opponent they faced in the NWAC Crossover last December in the South Region #3 seed Umpqua Riverhawks.

They will look to sophomore standout and team captain Jaynee Tanner to guide them into a deep playoff run. Tanner has been by far the team’s best player, winning two NWAC Athlete of the Week Awards in the season, and is third in average points per game (19.3) in the NWAC and is tied for the lead in the league in average rebounds per game (17).

Clipper Women’s Basketball Head Coach Darah Vining had a great amount of admiration for her young squad. “I’m really excited for this group. To only have one returner in a completely new team, going to the tournament is such a fun experience,” said Vining. “It’s a testament to how hard they have worked all year and just how much they pour into each other and into this program.”

Both squads look to surpass last year’s results in the tournament as the women’s team qualified for the Elite Eight for the first time in program history, and the men had their best-ever finish in school history with their qualification to the Final Four.

The men’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups will take place March 4 to 6, 2026 and the women’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be played from March 6 to 8, 2026 at Holden Court at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Wash. Tickets are available now for all games of the tournament. Fans can buy the pay-per-view broadcasts of the games through the NWAC Sports Network, with Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games priced at $16 per broadcast, Final Four and Championships priced at $18 per broadcast, or the Broadcast Tournament Pass (which provides access to all 15 men's or women's broadcasts) for $40.