Last Thursday Stephen F. Austin beat McNeese 71-59 in the Southland tourney women’s title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Ladyjacks lost back-to-back games in late-January but bounced back to make the NCAA tourney for the 3rd time in the past 6 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Stephen F. Austin SR G Ashlyn Traylor-Walker about being the OT hero in the conference tourney semifinal and making the NCAA tourney.
As a freshman at Radford in 2023 you were named conference ROY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It meant a lot. Radford was my only offer coming out of high school, so it was really special to me.
Why did you decide to transfer in 2024, and what made you choose SFA? I knew that I was growing as a person and needed a place that would support that growth. I leaned on the Lord, and SFA was the only place that I visited.
You play for Coach Leonard Bishop: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He is very passionate and wants to win, so we are the same in those aspects. He taught me how to contain my passion in the right way and taught the whole team how to win.
Last year as co-captain you led the conference with 4.7 APG: what is the secret to being a good PG? I do not know if there is a secret, but since I am a dynamic player the defense has to worry about me going downhill. That opens up the floor for my teammates, and I try to find them when they are open: I give credit to my teammates for knocking down those shots.
Take me through the 2026 Southland tourney:
In the semifinals you scored 16 PTS including the final 6 of the game to clinch a 5-PT OT win over Lamar: how were you able to save your team’s season? Our defense led to offense and we threw some different stuff at them toward the end that they were not prepared for.
In the title game you scored 8 PTS in a win over McNeese: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? It meant a lot, especially to go back-to-back. I was most excited for the people who were not here last year because the 1st time I won it was the best experience ever…although winning it again was also pretty nice. We definitely had a dance party in the locker room!
You faced some good teams in non-conference play including Abilene Christian/Louisiana Tech: which of them impressed you the most? Our game against Abilene Christian was really good for us. They are always a solid team so anytime you beat them it is an accomplishment. We also beat Houston, who is a Big 12 team, so that stands out to me as well.
Your team’s 36.8 FG% allowed is top-25 in the nation: what is the key to playing good defense? We work on our offense and defense every day in practice. You do not see a lot of other teams play a 2-3 zone like we do because our rotations are not in the style that most people are used to.
Your sisters Kayana/Pashence/Adelyn all played college basketball: who is the best athlete in the family? I think that we are all good in our own ways. Kayana is the best player, but I am the best all-around athlete!
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? That is in the Lord’s hands at this point, but whatever seed we get we will go out and play like we always do.
The 2026 Hoops HD Selection Committee – Saturday, March 14th
Tonight was our third night of committee meetings; this was our busiest night to date. We began the day with three at-large bids available; Ole Miss’s loss to Arkansas came as a relief to everyone on the bubble since a bid thief would no longer come out of the SEC. The Atlantic 10 was a different story since Dayton defeated Saint Louis on a last-second shot and could steal a bid on Selection Sunday with a win against VCU.
As for the voting itself, we had Mother Miami, Texas and VCU as carryover teams from the previous round of voting. We debated all of the teams Under Consideration; nobody ended up being motioned off of the Under Consideration board. After debate, each Committee member nominated six teams and submitted choices to Chad (our Chairman). The top four teams that were added to the nomination board were New Mexico, San Diego State, SMU and South Florida (in the event they lose to Wichita State in the American title game).
In the final round of voting, Mother Miami and VCU were voted into the at-large field; there was a tie between SMU and Texas for the final spot and the final contingency spot (in the event that the A-10 doesn’t result in a stolen bid). SMU got the guaranteed at-large spot and Texas ended up getting the contingency bid; Texas would move to the First Four Out in the event that Dayton wins the A-10 title. Our first four teams out ended up being San Diego State, South Florida (at-large), New Mexico and Florida State. Auburn would be the other team moving up in the event that South Florida wins the American.
Our next task was to continue seeding the field; we included teams that were still alive (i.e. Louisiana Tech, Toledo, UC-Irvine, Utah Valley) at the time of voting. We ended up seeding 73 teams at the time, but at the time of posting the list went down to 71 teams. It will ultimately become 68 teams once the Ivy League, A-10 and American championship games go final and we will have two contingency brackets – one for South Florida winning the autobid and one for Wichita State winning the auto bid.
Update (2:15 AM) – We added California Baptist to the field after an incredible finish in the WAC Championship. The Lancers hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left; Utah Valley had a chance to tie the game in regulation and MISSED a dunk with 2.7 seconds on the clock. CBU ran out the clock for their first NCAA Division I Tournament bid.
We also did an initial scrub of the Master Seed List; click on the above graphic to see where things stood through games of Saturday night. We will meet at 2:30 PM later today to do a final scrub of the seed list and bracket the field based on what happens in this afternoon’s games. Keep an eye on our website for our final bracket as well as Jon Teitel’s final NCAA Tournament Bracket projection!