Warwick, R.I. – History is knocking at the doorstep of the Community College of Rhode Island’s women’s basketball team, which is headed to Texas next week after qualifying for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Women’s Basketball Championships for the fifth year in a row.

The Knights, ranked No. 3 in the nation, finished the 2025–26 season 22-3, including a perfect 14-0 record in Region XXI play, and won the regional tournament for the fifth year in a row to earn one of eight automatic bids to the NJCAAs. CCRI officially punched its ticket March 1 with an 86-51 win over Holyoke Community College in the Region XXI championship game.

CCRI is seeded third out of 12 teams in this year’s NJCAA tournament – its highest seeding in program history – and will enjoy a first-round bye before playing the winner of No. 6 Northland and No. 11 Dallas-Richland in the quarterfinals Thursday, March 12 at 6 pm. This also represents the first time CCRI has been seeded among the top four teams in the tournament to receive a bye after previously being seeded seventh, ninth, sixth, and 10th in its first four appearances.

“We are excited to have this opportunity to win another Region XXI championship and get back to the nationals,” said CCRI head coach Doug Haynes. “I’ve said all season we can compete with anyone in the nation and we are solid enough to cause some havoc in the nationals.”

The D-III tournament begins March 11 at Brownwood Coliseum in Brownwood, TX, and concludes with the national championship March 14. All games are available to stream on the NJCAA Network.

Here is the team's full roster, along with their hometowns:

3. Layla Perry -- Central Falls, R.I.
4. Ella Johnson -- Exeter, R.I.
5. Natalyah Williams -- Norwich, Conn.
10. Kellylyn Kozlin -- West Warwick, R.I.
11. Emma Harding -- West Kingston, R.I.
13. Parisa Monterio -- Central Falls, R.I.
14. Sydney Waitekus -- Narragansett, R.I.
21. Genesis McNeill -- Providence, R.I.
23. Meleeya Robbins -- Groton, Conn.
24. Qiana Sumner -- Providence, R.I.
25. Emily Moran -- Warren, R.I.
42. Charlize Romero -- Providence, R.I.

Under Haynes’ guidance, the Knights have won an unprecedented 64 consecutive games against regional opponents in addition to five regional championships and five NJCAA tournament appearances. This year’s team might be his best in his eight seasons at the helm; CCRI finished third in the nation in points per game (80.9), second in field-goal percentage (50.5), and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (31.8) while allowing the fewest points per game (44.8). The Knights are also a force on the boards, finishing ninth in rebounding, including the fifth most defensive rebounds per game in the nation (31.3).

This year’s balanced attack is led by the backcourt trio of sophomores Genesis McNeill, Meleeya Robbins, and Natalyah Williams, who each averaged double figures in scoring. Williams led the team at 12.6 points per game while shooting 56.7 percent from the field, including 35 percent from three-point range. Robbins and McNeill averaged 11.8 and 11.6 points per game, respectively, which includes McNeill’s incredible team-best 65.9 field goal percentage – the best in the nation among qualifying players – and team-high 4.5 assists per game.

The Knights also have firepower off the bench with freshman guard Ella Johnson and freshman center Charlize Romera hitting 24 and 21 three-pointers, respectively, which trailed only Williams, who connected 28 times from beyond the arc. Freshman center Emily Moran was one of only six Knights to play all 25 games this season and averaged 7.2 points and 4.0 rebounds off the bench.

“The biggest key this year was no injuries, which is big around this time of the year,” Haynes said. “This team is well-balanced and an unselfish group that wants to prove that it can compete with the best.  Our bench has been able to play a lot and get the experience that we need to make a run at the nationals.”

In 2025–26, CCRI won its first 11 games before suffering back-to-back non-league losses to current Region XX champion and No. 7 nationally-ranked Monroe University and Southern Maine Community College, a United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division II program, in January. CCRI’s only other loss this season occurred on Valentine’s Day against fellow USCAA D-II school Central Maine Community College, 60-56, at the Warwick Fieldhouse, the Knights’ only home loss of the season.

Women’s basketball enters this year’s tournament attempting to win the first national championship in program history and only the second in school history; the CCRI women’s soccer team won the NJCAA Division I national championship with a perfect 22-0 record in 2002. CCRI is 4-5 in the NJCAA tournament over the past four seasons, including three consolation bracket wins and a first-round victory over Onondaga in the 2022–23 tournament as the No. 6 seed.