College of Idaho, the 2009-10 CCC champion, will be one of two entrants from the Cascade Collegiate Conference in this week's national championship tournament in Sioux City, Iowa.
Women's NAIA D-II Tourney Tips Wednesday
Complete Bracket
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The 19th Annual State Farm-NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship opens on Wednesday, as 32 teams travel to Sioux City, Iowa, to play out 31 games over the course of six days. College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon will represent the Cascade Collegiate Conference in the tournament.
Shawnee State (Ohio) and Haskell Indian Nations (Kan.) will tip off the event on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. CST. The first and second round will feature eight games in three days, followed by the quarterfinals on Saturday. Semifinal action takes to the court on March 15, with the National Championship final taking place on March 16.
The College of Idaho will meet Cardinal Stritch University in the first-round, while EOU will meet .The Lady Yotes (21-7), champions of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, earned a No. 5 seed in Bracket 4, meeting the No. 4 seeded Wolves (28-2), champions of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, with tip-off scheduled for 7:45 p.m. (MST) – the final game of the first-round. EOU will take on Black Hills State (S.D.) Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. (PST).
Local area flavor will be on display as both NAIA teams located in Sioux City, Briar Cliff (Iowa) and defending national champion Morningside (Iowa), made the championship field. It is the first time in the event’s 19-year history that both the Chargers and Mustangs are playing in the national championship together. Hailing from Orange City, Iowa, just over 40 miles away, Northwestern (Iowa) is also among the championship teams.
Briar Cliff (25-7), who is appearing in the tournament for the first time since advancing to the semifinals in 2002, boasts the nation’s second-best offensive attack with 86.8 pgg. Senior Liz Grider is the country’s top-scorer, averaging 25.9 ppg. The Chargers enter the National Championship after placing third in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, their highest-ever finish.
Tanaeya Worden had big shoes to fill with the departure of key players from last year’s national championship team, but the junior has been the Morningside’s leading scorer in the last six regular season games and in nine of the last seven contests prior to the GPAC Tournament. Her 17.5 scoring average is the highest since assistant coach Megan Cloud’s 19.6 average in 2004-05.
Northwestern (24-4) is led by the guard play of junior Becca Hurley. The All-American has logged 1,000-plus career points and ranks 10th in the program’s history in career scoring (1,382 points). The sharp-shooting Red Raiders connect on a nation-best 48.8 percent of their shots from the floor and rank third with an average of 83.3 ppg.
Twenty-two teams that were a member of last year’s event return in 2010, including the last nine national champions. Former champs include Hastings (Neb.) (2002, 03, 06), Indiana Wesleyan (2007), Northwestern (2001, 08) and Morningside (2004, 05, 09).
Eight teams have qualified 10 or more times for the national tournament. College of the Ozarks (Mo.) leads all-time participants with 16 appearances, followed by Shawnee State (Ohio) with 15. Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) and Sterling (Kan.) have each qualified 15 times, with Cardinal Stritch qualifying the past nine seasons. Hastings is playing in its 10th-straight and 12th overall National Championship and Morningside has traveled across town to compete the last eight years.
Haskell Indian Nations, Indiana Northwest and St. Thomas (Fla.) have qualified for the first time in program history. The Indians (20-8) are led by Maria Parker and Justina George. Both players surpassed 1,000 career points this season and Parker became the Indians’ all-time leading scorer (1,415).
Indiana Northwest punched its ticket to Sioux City by capturing the Association of Independent Institutions Tournament title. Sophomore forward Sharon Houston is the driving force behind the RedHawks. She ranks among the top-10 nationally in nine statistical categories and is the nation’s second leading scorer and rebounder, pouring in 25.1 ppg and grabbing 14.9 rbg.
Winners of The Sun Conference, St. Thomas makes its first trip in only the team’s third-year of reinstatement since the 1980s. The Bobcats rely on the play of senior guard Cindy Castrillion. She’s the program’s all-time points holder (1,108) breaking the 1,000-career points mark on Feb. 13.
It has been 13 years since Walsh’s first and only trip to the national championship, but that one trip saw the Cavaliers return to North Canton, Ohio, with a national title in 1998. Four-year head coach Laurel Wartluft has guided her team to an American Mideast Conference Tournament title and a 24-9 record to earn the program’s second trip to Sioux City.
Grand View is making its fourth showing and first since 2003. Six-years removed from its last trip to Sioux City, Tennessee Wesleyan returns to the court in the Tyson Events Center. St. Francis (Ind.) also returns to the event, ending a three-year absence, and Eastern Oregon and Minot State (N.D.) were both in the 32-team field in 2008.
Five teams will represent the Great Plains Athletic Conference and four Mid-Central College Conference squads qualify to Sioux City. The American Mideast Conference and Dakota Athletic Conference each send a trio of teams.
The first 30 games of the national championship will be video-streamed by NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. Three different subscription plans for basketball (Men's and Women's Division I; Men's and Women's Division II) will be available for tournament coverage. Users can purchase the All-Tournament pass, which includes every event offered on College Sports Direct from all four basketball tournaments for $39.95. Each of the four basketball tournaments can be purchased separately for $24.95 and any single day can be purchased for $9.95. In order to view the streaming, click here.
The Championship final on March 16 will be televised live nationally on CBS College Sports Television with tipoff at 9 p.m. CST.