JMU to Face No. 2 Troy in Sun Belt Championship Battle

Monday, March 9

Pensacola, Fla.

2 p.m. (1 p.m. CT)

James Madison University

Troy

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3/8/2026 11:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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PENSACOLA, Fla. – Fourth-seeded James Madison will face No. 2 Troy in the 2026 Visit Pensacola Sun Belt Women's Basketball Championship on Monday afternoon. The title game is slated for 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) inside the Pensacola Bay Center, and will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

JMU is the first team to appear in four consecutive Sun Belt title games since Middle Tennessee went to eight straight from 2003-2010. James Madison and Troy did not meet in the regular season and have never met in the tournament title game. The Trojans have three Sun Belt tournament titles (2021, 2017, 2016) while the Dukes have one (2023).

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE DUKES

No. 4 JMU dominated the glass, winning the rebounding battle 45-16, and held top-seeded Georgia Southern to 36.7% shooting (18-of-49) from the field for an 81-53 victory on Sunday afternoon in the Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship semifinals, advancing to the title game for the fourth consecutive season.
The Dukes scored 25 second-chance points, while not allowing the Eagles to come away with a single offensive rebound.
Peyton McDaniel dazzled with 25 points on 10-for-20 (.500) with five rebounds and three steals, marking her fourth game this season scoring 25 or more. Ashanti Barnes posted her 11th double-double of the year, recording a stat line of 15 points and 10 boards. Bree Robinson finished with 10 points, while Zakiya Stephenson added nine points and six assists with just one turnover. Brianna McLeod played a key role off the bench, supplying nine rebounds, eight points, and two blocks off the bench in the win.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE TROJANS

No. 2 Troy women's basketball punched its ticket to the Sun Belt championship game on Sunday afternoon in the Pensacola Bay Center with an 83-73 victory over No. 3 Arkansas State.
Zay Dyer finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds for her 23rd double-double of the season and 15th straight. On her sixth rebound, Dyer joined the 1,000-rebound club at Troy, becoming the first player in Division I history and fourth all-time to join the 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound club. Before that, on her second rebound, she broke her own single-season rebound record with her 396th rebound.

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

The Sun Belt title would be James Madison's second since joining the league in 2022 and its 11th conference tournament championship in program history. Moreover, it would give the Dukes their 14th appearance in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.
With a win, JMU would become the first Sun Belt team to win the conference tournament as a non-top-2 seed since No. 3 Troy defeated No. 5 Louisiana, 78-64, in the 2017 title game.
Additionally, the Dukes would be the first four-seed to capture the Sun Belt Championship since Troy did so with a 61-60 victory over No. 2 Little Rock on March 12, 2016.

BY THE NUMBERS

14: Peyton McDaniel (2,257 Points) is one of 14 active Division I players with 2,000-plus points, sitting in third behind Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame - 2,358) and Ta'Niya Latson (South Carolina - 2,505).
51: Brianna McLeod is fourth in the nation in blocks (51) among players with no starts, while Aziyah Farrier of Stephen F. Austin leads the nation with 57 blocks off the bench. Additionally, her 51 rejections are the most by a Duke since Kayla Cooper Williams posted 74 in 2019-20.
81: Bree Robinson has tallied 81 steals, good for the second most in a single season in program history. The guard is two steals away from passing Jess Cichowicz for the most single-season steals, finishing with 82 in the 2002-03 season. That season, she set the program single-game record for steals with nine against Charlotte on Dec. 21, 2002.
100: Zakiya Stephenson (145) and Bree Robinson (106) are the first JMU teammates to record at least 100 assists in the same season since Nikki Newman (142) and Angela Mickens (139) accomplished the feat during the 2013-14 season.

NCAA RANKING SUMMARY (THROUGH MARCH 7 GAMES)

JMU owns 10 top-75 marks nationally: rebounds per game (14th - 42.06), rebound margin (15th - +8.6), defensive rebounds per game (21st - 28.7), scoring margin (42nd - +13.2), scoring offense (45th - 74.8), field goal percentage (46th - 44.9), assists per game (62nd - 15.3), field goal percentage defense (62nd - 37.7), offensive rebounds per game (69th - 13.4), and blocks per game (71st - 3.9).
Individually, Peyton McDaniel is 28th in points (589), Bree Robinson is tied for 35th in steals (81), Ashanti Barnes is tied for 37th in rebounds (289), and Brianna McLeod is tied for 42nd in blocks (49).

PEYTON'S CAREER STATS

Playing her fifth season of collegiate basketball, Peyton McDaniel has placed herself in the top 20 of career rankings in eight categories: three-point attempts (1st - 961), three-pointers (2nd - 336), field goal attempts (2nd - 1,856), points (3rd - 2,257), three-point attempts per game (4th - 6.36), field goals made (T-4th - 808) games played (T-6th - 151), and rebounds (16th - 1,003).