The first day of the 2026 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Women’s Basketball Tournament is done, with the semi-finals matchups set for Friday.
Our Lucas Kleimeyer and Tyler Kavalecz give us their Falcon Four takeaways from the first day of action.
Miami (OH) survived and advanced
Although it wasn’t pretty, especially on the offensive end, the RedHawks found a way to get a win over Kent State and advance to the semifinal round, which is what tournament play is all about.
The women’s team is not always as flashy as their male counterparts in Oxford, but they found a way to send a veteran Golden Flashes team home early and stay alive.
Ohio displayed their dominant shooting
Ohio, the five seed, technically pulled off an upset over Central Michigan, the four seed.
Junior guard Bailey Tabeling may have already secured a spot on the All-MAC Tournament team, pouring in a career-high 33 points in the win.
If the Bobcats can find a way to keep their shooters hot, they can win the tournament.
Toledo is still a dangerous team
The Rockets cannot be slept on.
Even though they were shorthanded, Toledo still pulled off a major upset, defeating UMass, the three seed as the sixth seed in the field.
Entering their fifth consecutive semifinal round in Cleveland, Toledo still has a chance to cause more chaos.
Ball State proved they might be the best team in the conference
Although the Cardinals have plenty of new faces, they have just as much, if not more talent than any other team in the MAC, and that was on display in their controlling win over Bowling Green.
Ball State is also playing to repeat as champions after Brady Sallee finally captured a tournament championship last season.
While they may be the second seed in the tournament, they could very well be the best team in the field.
Falcon Media Sports Network will continue to have wall-to-wall on-site coverage of the remaining three days of the tournament, including broadcasts on Falcon Radio, written/video content on bgfalconmedia.com and social media updates and content on Twitter/X (@BG_FMSN), Instagram and Facebook (@bgfalconmedia.com).
