LEXINGTON, Ky. — The search for an NCAA national title is out of the cards for most of Kentucky’s universities, but the dream is still alive for one school.

What You Need To Know

  •  Transy women's basketball has played to a 32-0 record so far this year

  • The Pioneers will play in their first NCAA D-III national chapionship on Saturday April 1 

  • Transy is the last Kentucky basketball team competing for a title 

The Transylvania Pioneers women’s basketball team is competing in the NCAA Division III championship on Saturday April 1.

“It’s been a great season. Last year was a great season as well, but finishing it off we can’t complain,” said senior forward, Deisa Thornton.

The team hasn’t lost since last year’s playoffs and is now sitting at an unthinkable record of 32 wins, zero losses. It all culminates with a shot at becoming national champions.

“We’ve worked so hard; bringing it home. You know UK they fell this year but hopefully they can bring one back and we’ll just represent the whole Lexington. The community has been backing us up this whole year,” Thornton said.

It’s the first time in program history that they’ll play in the NCAA D-III national championship game.

“We have an incredible group of women who have been working really hard for this for a long time,” said head coach Juli Fulks.

Nine-year head coach Fulks says after losing last year in the Elite 8 the girls made it their goal to be here next year. Now, they are.

“Competing for a national championship is a lot of fun and it’s been fun to watch the community support them. We were able to play at home in The Beck Center for the first two weekends, which was awesome. At this point we want them to enjoy everything they’ve worked for,” Fulks said.

For senior point guard Maddie Kellione, it would be a slam dunk finish to her college career in which she battled adversity.

“I tore my ACL freshman year then sophomore year was the COVID year, so we didn’t play in the NCAA tournament so just to really see a full spectrum of a college career, I’ve had a lot of experiences and I’m glad to finish it out this way,” Kellione said.

Thornton says this team was special with everyone playing a pivotal role.

“Our bench goes really deep and we have a lot of really competitive players and we always compete in practice,” Thornton said.

Transylvania plays Christopher Newport University’s Captains in Dallas, Texas at noon.

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