Minnesota West beats Anoka-Ramsey for NJCAA national title

Minnesota West turned the NJCAA Division III championship game into a 51-41 grind and beat No. 2 Anoka-Ramsey on Saturday at Brownwood Coliseum in Brownwood, Texas. The top seed’s identity held up under the brightest spotlight, as Minnesota West won with discipline and defensive control rather than a track-meet scoring burst.

The 10-point margin fit the way the game unfolded. In a title game that stayed low-scoring throughout, every empty possession mattered, and Minnesota West was steadier when the pressure tightened. Anoka-Ramsey reached the final as the bracket’s other elite team, but the Rams were forced into an uncomfortable game that never produced the kind of rhythm their season had built on.

Payton Reimers supplied the clearest offensive lift for Minnesota West, coming off the bench to score 24 points in the championship win. Even that number pointed back to the larger story: Minnesota West did not need a wide-open, high-possession game to finish the job. Instead, it leaned on the same composure that carried the Blue Jays through the postseason and into a meeting between the tournament’s top two seeds.

The result completed a season that Minnesota West athletics described as the program’s second NJCAA Division III national championship in three years. Another Minnesota West athletics story said the 2026 campaign brought the women’s basketball program its second national title in three years and drew campus-wide recognition for the team’s success. The Blue Jays finished 26-5, a record that underscored how consistently they handled pressure before sealing the title against their nearest challenger.

Anoka-Ramsey’s run still ended with a place in the national final and the No. 2 seed beside its name, a sign of a program that belonged on the stage. But Minnesota West protected its top-seed status in the most direct way possible, by making the championship a defensive test and winning the possession battle that decided the trophy.