Teams Announced for 2025 Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off
The fields for the Island and Shell Division of the fourth annual Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off were revealed today, once again bringing eight brand-name programs to Southwest Florida for eight games of competitive early season competition that will help shape the landscape of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
The four-team Island Division includes Georgia, Kansas, Butler and Dayton, while the Shell Division will include Missouri, Northwestern, Abilene Christian and Bradley. Teams will play two games against pre-determined opponents within their respective division. The complete event schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
All games of the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off are set for Nov. 28-29 at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College. All games will be nationally televised by ION with distribution on cable, satellite, major streaming platforms and over-the-air.
“We are proud of the continued growth of the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, demonstrated once again by an impressive collection of teams that are participating in the fourth-annual event, but also that every game will be nationally televised by ION,” said Mark Starsiak, senior vice president at Intersport, which owns and operates the event. “These eight games will prove to be meaningful contests as the season evolves and we’re excited to bring these showcase games to a national audience during Thanksgiving Week.”
The eight teams participating in the event have combined for 128 total postseason appearances and several of the sport’s most successful coaches will be taking part in the event. Three coaches own more than 500 career wins, including Northwestern’s Joe McKeown, whose 777 career victories is fourth-most among all active NCAA coaches in Division I. McKeown, Kansas’ Brandon Schneider (544 career wins) and Abilene Christian’s Julie Goodenough (539) are among the most-tenured head coaches in the country with more than 95 years of combined coaching experience between the trio.
In addition, Georgia’s Katie Abrahamson-Henderson (419), Missouri’s Kellie Harper (393) boast 20 years of coaching experience each while Butler’s Austin Parkinson (266 wins) has 15 years of head coaching experience. Meanwhile, both Kate Popovec-Goss and Tamika Williams-Jeter have been at Bradley and Dayton, respectively, for three seasons, and boast impressive playing experience; Williams-Jeter was a two-time national champion at UConn and Popovec-Goss played for two seasons at Northwestern under McKeown.
Event travel packages will become available on July 23 and will include tickets to all games of either the Island or Shell Division, hotel accommodations at one of our host hotels and parking at the venue. To register to receive more details or to learn more about event travel packages, visit www.womensfortmyerstipoff.com/travel. Ticket-only packages will be available in August.
To receive the latest email alerts regarding event news, ticket information and more, visit our website at www.womensfortmyerstipoff.com and follow Intersport Basketball on Twitter (X) and Instagram at @IntersportHoops.
About Intersport
Intersport is an award-winning agency that fills the empty space between marketing campaigns and consumers—helping brands make more meaningful connections. Its industry-leading team offers expert insights in content marketing, experiential marketing, hospitality, partnership consulting and platform development. The Chicago-based agency also owns and operates events across the professional and collegiate sports landscape, including basketball, football, golf, pickleball and volleyball. Intersport has been headquartered in Chicago since its inception in 1985 and has an additional office in Detroit. Learn more at www.intersport.global and on social media (LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook).
About the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off and Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off
An annual celebration of men’s and women’s college basketball, the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off and Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off welcomes the top programs from around the country for incredible competition to see which teams and their fans will #OwnTheFort during Thanksgiving Week. Contested at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the home of Florida SouthWestern State College, the events have quickly become a staple of the Southwest Florida sports calendar. To receive the latest email alerts regarding event news, ticket information and more, visit our website at www.fortmyerstipoff.com or www.womensfortmyerstipoff.com and follow Intersport Basketball on Twitter (X) and Instagram at @IntersportHoops.