KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially released the field of 32 teams for the 22nd Annual State Farm-NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, held March 6 - 12 in Sioux City, Iowa, at the Tyson Events Center. The official bracket will be released by 7 p.m. CST today on NAIA.org.Eight teams are appearing in the National Championship for at least the 10th time in school history, led by the 19 appearances made by College of the Ozarks (Mo.). Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) has the second most with 17 trips. Eight schools have qualified for the National Championship for the first time ever: Mayville State (N.D.), Oklahoma Wesleyan, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Purdue Calumet (Ind.), Reinhardt (Ga.), Roosevelt (Ill.), Saint Xavier (Ill.) and Siena Heights (Mich.). Olivet Nazarene and Saint Xavier are first year Division II members, have made trips to the Division I National championship.
Northwestern (Iowa), who has won the last three national championships, returns to the field as the Great Plains Athletic Tournament Runner-Up. The Red Raiders lead all NAIA Division II programs with five national championships - all since 2001. Only two others in the field have won a national championship: Morningside (Iowa) and Indiana Wesleyan. Morningside has collected three titles, while Indiana Wesleyan has one.
Northwestern's 39 all-time tournament wins are the most in the history of the Division II Women's Basketball National Championship. The Red Raiders, making their eighth-consecutive championship appearance, are followed by College of the Ozarks (30), Morningside (25), and Saint Francis (Ind.) (22), for most all-time wins among 2012 qualifying teams. College of the Ozark's 12-straight tournament appearances is tied with Cardinal Stritch for the longest active streak.
The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference landed five squads in the National Championship field: Cardinal Stritch, Olivet Nazarene, Purdue-Calumet, Roosevelt and Saint Xavier. The Great Plains Athletic Conference are next with four teams.
The 32-team field is comprised of 21 automatic qualifiers from NAIA affiliated conferences and independents, plus 11 at-large selections, which were determined using the final Top 25 poll released on Wednesday.
NeuLion is the NAIA's Digital Media Partner and official video-streaming company of 12 select NAIA National Championship events. The first 30 games from Sioux City, Iowa, will be available via live video stream for $29.95 and any single day can be purchased for $9.95. Also, one can purchase the all-tournament package of all four basketball tournaments for $49.95. For more information and to pre-register, click
here.
The National Championship final on March 12 will be televised live nationally on CBS Sports Network with tip-off at 6 p.m. CST.
2013 Division II Women's Basketball National Championship Qualifiers
|
School |
Qualification |
Record |
Appearances |
Last Time |
Tour. Record |
Titles |
|
Bethel (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 2 |
25-7 |
7th |
2012 |
9-6 |
0 |
|
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
At-Large No. 4 |
23-9 |
11th |
2012 |
21-10 |
0 |
|
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Tournament Runner-Up |
26-7 |
17th |
2012 |
8-16 |
0 |
|
College of Idaho |
Cascade Collegiate Tournament Runner-Up |
21-8 |
8th |
2012 |
6-7 |
0 |
|
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
Midlands Colleigate Athletic Tournament Champion |
29-4 |
19th |
2012 |
30-18 |
0 |
|
Concordia (Mich.) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Tournament Runner-Up |
27-6 |
3rd |
2012 |
1-2 |
0 |
|
Concordia (Neb.) |
At-Large No. 1 |
25-6 |
12th |
2012 |
18-11 |
0 |
|
Davenport (Mich.) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Regular Season Champion |
30-2 |
9th |
2012 |
9-8 |
0 |
|
Eastern Oregon |
Cascade Collegiate Regular Season Champion |
31-2 |
7th |
2012 |
3-6 |
0 |
|
Friends (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Regular Season Champion |
23-8 |
5th |
2012 |
1-4 |
0 |
|
Grand View (Iowa) |
Midwest Collegiate Tournament Champion |
21-6 |
6th |
2012 |
6-5 |
0 |
|
Indiana Wesleyan |
Crossroads Regular Season Champion |
30-3 |
11th |
2012 |
18-9 |
1 |
|
Jamestown (N.D.) |
Association of Independent Institution Tournament Champion |
26-5 |
5th |
2012 |
2-4 |
0 |
|
Mayville State (N.D.) |
At-Large No. 11 |
20-5 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Menlo (Calif.) |
California Pacific Tournament Champion |
26-3 |
5th |
2012 |
1-4 |
0 |
|
Milligan (Tenn.) |
Appalachian Athletic Regular Season Champion |
23-9 |
5th |
2000 |
2-4 |
0 |
|
Morningside (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic Regular Season Champion |
28-4 |
11th |
2012 |
25-7 |
3 |
|
Northwestern (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic Tournament Runner-Up |
23-7 |
12th |
2012 |
39-6 |
5 |
|
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
At-Large No. 6 |
24-5 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
At-Large No. 9 |
23-8 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Point Park (Pa.) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
25-6 |
2nd |
2012 |
0-1 |
0 |
|
Purdue Calumet (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 3 |
21-9 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Reinhardt (Ga.) |
Appalachian Athletic Tournament Champion |
19-14 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Roosevelt (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Regular Season Champion |
27-6 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
Crossroads Tournament Champion |
30-3 |
14th |
2011 |
22-13 |
0 |
|
College of Saint Mary (Neb.) |
At-Large No. 10 |
25-8 |
3rd |
2012 |
1-2 |
0 |
|
Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
At-Large No. 7 |
24-6 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Siena Heights (Mich.) |
At-Large No. 8 |
23-9 |
1st |
- |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Southwestern (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
23-7 |
5th |
2012 |
1-4 |
0 |
|
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
At-Large No. 5 |
27-3 |
3rd |
2012 |
0-2 |
0 |
|
Valley City State (N.D.) |
Association of Independent Institution Tournament Runner-up |
24-7 |
3rd |
2012 |
0-2 |
0 |
|
Webber International |
The Sun Tournament Champion |
15-13 |
4th |
2006 |
0-3 |
0 |