Contact: Chassidy Holloway, Associate Executive Director, holloway@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Midwest Conference (MWC) Women’s Basketball Tournament returns to Ripon, Wisconsin, for the seventh consecutive year. Ripon College will host the league’s top teams on Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1, as they compete for the tournament title and the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Two semifinals will be played at the Doc Weiske ’50 Memorial Gymnasium on Friday evening. At 5:00 p.m., host and No. 1 seed Ripon College will take on No. 4 seed Cornell College, followed by No. 2 seed Lawrence University facing No. 3 seed Grinnell College at 7:00 p.m. The winners will meet in the championship game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
 
Ripon College enters the tournament with a 15-1 MWC record (21-4 overall) after securing its seventh regular-season championship. Since 2017-18, the Red Hawks have claimed five outright MWC titles and shared two, while also winning three MWC Tournament championships in five appearances. They enter the postseason on a 12-game win streak.
 
Lawrence University and Grinnell College tied for second place in the final league standings, each finishing with a 12-4 MWC record (18-7 overall).
 
Lawrence returns to the MWC Tournament for the second straight year, marking its best regular season finish since 2005-06. The Vikings, two-time MWC Tournament champions, are seeking their first title since 1999.
 
Grinnell qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2016-17 and enters the tournament on a seven-game win streak. The Pioneers look to capture their program’s second tournament championship, with their first coming in 1991.
 
Cornell College clinched a tournament berth for the second time in three seasons after winning two must-win games last week and securing the final spot via a coin flip tiebreaker against Knox College. The Rams finished the regular season with a 10-6 conference record (14-10 overall) and have two MWC Tournament titles, last winning in 2018.
 
During the regular season, Ripon’s only conference loss came against Grinnell. The Red Hawks swept Cornell and Lawrence, while Lawrence won both matchups against Grinnell and Cornell. Grinnell and Cornell split their season series.
 
For the latest updates on the tournament, visit the 2025 MWC Women’s Basketball Tournament page.

2025 MWC Women's Basketball Tournament Schedule
Friday, February 28
Semi-Final #1 - 5:00 PM  No. 1 Ripon vs No. 4 Cornell
Semi-Final #2 - 7:00 PM  No. 2 Lawrence vs. No. 3 Grinnell

Saturday, March 1 - Tournament Championship Game -- 3:00 PM
Winner of Semi-Final #1 vs. Winner of Semi-Final #2