SIOUX CITY, Iowa – (Press Book | Live Stats | Live Video) The 24th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by State Farm, tips off Wednesday at the Tyson Events Center. The Sioux City Convention and Tourism Bureau is hosting the event for the 18th-straight year – the longest consecutive tenure of any current national championship host – with 31 games being played over seven days, ending with the championship final Tuesday, March 17 at 7:05 p.m. CST.
The first game of the championship features Marian (Ind.) (28-5), which claimed an automatic bid by defeating Huntington (Ind.) (22-9), 63-59, in the Crossroads League tournament final, going up against Tabor (Kan.) (19-12) – regular-season champions of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. The national championship hits the hardwood at 8:30 a.m. each of the first three days, with eight games scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Quarterfinal action tips off at 1 p.m. on March 14 with the semifinals scheduled for March 16 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Both semifinal games and the championship final will be broadcast in high definition on ESPN3.com.
The Lady Bulldogs will face Southeastern University from Lakeland, Florida on Wednesday at 6:15 pm EST/5:15 pm CST. You can access the video and and live stats for the game on http://portal.stretchinternet.com/twc/. Johnny Coffman of WLAR/WJSQ will be broadcasting live from Sioux City, so you can listen to the game by clicking the link to the radio station or listening on 101.7. Follow the Lady Bulldogs on twitter @twcbulldogs for updates and action in Sioux City.
Twenty-one of the 32 competing teams return from the 2014 field, including all four semifinalists from a season ago – Cardinal Stritch (Wis.), College of the Ozarks (Mo.), Davenport (Mich.) and defending national champion Saint Francis (Ind.).
Three conference tournament victors are making their first visit to the national championship – Asbury (Ky.), Clarke (Iowa) and UC-Merced (Calif.). In total, five schools are making their first appearance in Sioux City, as Robert Morris (Ill.) and Southeastern (Fla.) join the list of first-timers.
Off the heels of No. 3 Concordia's (Neb.) 80-72 upset over top-ranked Morningside (Iowa) on March 3 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament championship game, Davenport enters the national championship as the lone unbeaten squad in Division II (31-0).
The Panthers travel to Sioux City for the 11th time in program history and 11th-consecutive appearance in the national championship. They line up against Clarke (20-12) in the fourth game on Wednesday, scheduled to begin at 1:45 p.m. If Davenport earns the title this season, it would become the third team since 2009 to go unbeaten en route to raising the championship banner (Saint Francis 2014; Morningside (2009).
Davenport also entered the 2011 national championship with a perfect record, but fell in the final game to Northwestern (Iowa), 88-83.
The Cougars of Saint Francis – who earned an at-large berth into the field after falling in the Crossroads semifinals, 84-83, in overtime to Marian – open action against Southwestern (Kan.) (22-9) on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Saint Francis is making its 16th all-time appearance and eighth-consecutive appearance. The team boasts a 29-14 all-time record at the event.
Both Cardinal Stritch and College of the Ozarks lead the field in consecutive showings in the national championship at 14. Next in line is Indiana Wesleyan and Morningside with 13 appearances in-a-row.
In games played, College of the Ozarks leads the group with a 35-20 record in the national championship (55). Hastings (Neb.) is second with 44 games played (33-11), followed by Morningside's (39) and a 30-9 mark.
Hastings and Morningside are tied for the most national championships in this year's collection of schools with three each. Indiana Wesleyan (two) and defending champion Saint Francis (one) are the only other competitors with a national championship banner to their names.
Ten schools have 10-or-more showings at the national championship, led by College of the Ozarks' 21 tours. The Bobcats, who qualified as the fourth at-large, own a 35-20 national championship record, including five runner-up finishes (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2014). In addition to College of the Ozarks, Cardinal Stritch (19) Hastings (15) and Saint Francis (16) have made 15-or-more appearances.
The Crossroads and GPAC are tied for the most members in the field with four apiece. Indiana Wesleyan headlines the Crossroads schools, and is joined by Marian, St. Francis and Huntington. The GPAC foursome consists of Morningside, Concordia, Hastings and Briar Cliff (Iowa).
The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference – who had the most institutions in the national championship two-consecutive years – is third with the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference with three qualifiers each.
NAIA Network (www.NAIANetwork.com), powered by Stretch Internet – the NAIA's official video-streaming platform – will be home to all of the national championship action. Don't miss the live HD-quality video stream of the first 28 games running from March 11 - 17. For more information, click here.
Click here for more details on the national championship qualifying teams.
For more information on the 2015 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by State Farm, click here.