KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 32-team field for the 24th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by State Farm. The event will be held in Sioux City, Iowa, for the 18th-straight season – the longest streak of any current championship host – at the Tyson Events Center from March 11 – 17. The official championship bracket will be announced via a live selection show at 7 p.m. CST. To view the selection show, click here.
The field is comprised of 23 automatic berths and nine at-large selections. Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, tournament champions or tournament runners-up depending on the league. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches’ Top 25 Poll released earlier today.
Off the heels of No. 3 Concordia’s (Neb.) 80-72 upset over top-ranked Morningside (Iowa) on Tuesday night in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament championship game, No. 2 Davenport (Mich.) enters the national championship as the lone unbeaten squad in Division II (31-0).
The aforementioned loss snapped the Mustangs’ school record 39-game home court winning streak at Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center. It was the first loss at home for the top-team since falling to Mount Marty (S.D.) on Jan. 9, 2013, 77-68.
Davenport – a 2014 national semifinalist – travels to Sioux City for the 11th time in program history and 11th-consecutive appearance in the national championship. The Panthers are the third team since 2011 to enter the national championship with a perfect record (Saint Francis (Ind.) in 2014 and Davenport in 2011). The Panthers look to match Saint Francis’ efforts from a year ago by running the table en route to an undefeated season and national championship banner.
Davenport punched its ticket after defeating Siena Heights (Mich.), 62-37, in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament championship. With the victory over the Saints, the Panthers wrapped up a perfect 2014-15 home schedule, upping its home win streak to an NAIA Division II-best 57 games in-a-row.
Davenport has not lost at the DU Student Center since Feb. 8, 2012 to Madonna (Mich).
Concordia looks to carry the momentum of its victory over top-ranked Morningside into the national championship. The Bulldogs hope to rebound from last year’s effort when they got bounced in the first round of the national championship by Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), 91-86.
Defending national champion Saint Francis earned an at-large berth into the field after falling in the Crossroads League (Crossroads) semifinals, 84-83, in overtime to Marian (Ind.). The Knights collected the league’s automatic bid by holding off Huntington (Ind.), 63-59, on Monday.
Hastings (Neb.) 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.
In games played, College of the Ozarks (Mo.) leads the group with a 35-20 record in the national championship (55). Hastings is second with 44 games played (33-11), followed by Morningside’s (39) and a 30-9 mark.
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.
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 (Ind.), 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.
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 (Neb.) (15) and Saint Francis (16) have made 15-or-more appearances.
Twenty-one of the 32 competing teams return from the 2014 field.
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 all 28 games running from March 11 - 17. For more information, click here.
The national semifinals and national championship final game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
For more information on the 2015 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by State Farm, click here.
2015 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Qualifiers
|
School |
Qualification |
Record |
Champs Record |
Appearances^ |
Cons. Appearances |
Last Time |
Titles |
|
Asbury (Ky.) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
26-6 |
0-0 |
1st |
n/a |
n/a |
0 |
|
Ashford (Iowa) |
Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Champion |
24-7 |
0-1 |
2nd |
2nd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
At-Large No. 8 |
23-9 |
23-11 |
12th |
n/a |
2013 |
0 |
|
Bryan (Tenn.) |
Appalachian Athletic Regular-Season Runner-Up |
21-8 |
1-4 |
5th |
n/a |
2007 |
0 |
|
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
27-4 |
12-18 |
19th |
14th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Clarke (Iowa) |
Midwest Collegiate Tournament Champion |
20-12 |
0-0 |
1st |
n/a |
n/a |
0 |
|
College of Saint Mary (Neb.) |
Midlands Collegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
26-6 |
2-4 |
5th |
4th |
2014 |
0 |
|
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
At-Large No. 4 |
23-8 |
35-20 |
21st |
14th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Concordia (Neb.) |
Great Plains Athletic Tournament Champion |
31-2 |
18-13 |
14th |
5th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Davenport (Mich.) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Tournament Champion |
31-0 |
16-10 |
11th |
11th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Eastern Oregon |
Cascade Collegiate Regular-Season Champion |
26-6 |
5-8 |
9th |
5th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Hastings (Neb.) |
At-Large No. 3 |
22-8 |
33-11 |
15th |
2nd |
2014 |
3 |
|
Huntington (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 7 |
22-9 |
3-5 |
6th |
2nd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Indiana Wesleyan |
Crossroads League Regular-Season Champion |
27-5 |
24-10 |
13th |
13th |
2014 |
2 |
|
Jamestown (N.D.) |
North Star Tournament Champion |
24-6 |
4-6 |
7th |
4th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Marian (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Tournament Champion |
28-5 |
1-1 |
2nd |
n/a |
2011 |
0 |
|
Menlo (Calif.) |
At-Large No. 5 |
22-5 |
1-6 |
7th |
4th |
2014 |
0 |
|
Morningside (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic Regular-Season Champion |
32-1 |
30-9 |
13th |
13th |
2014 |
3 |
|
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
At-Large No. 6 |
26-6 |
0-2 |
3rd |
3rd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Oregon Tech |
Cascade Collegiate Tournament Champion |
23-10 |
0-2 |
3rd |
2nd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Regular-Season Champion |
25-7 |
0-1 |
2nd |
n/a |
2008 |
0 |
|
Robert Morris (Ill.) |
At-Large No. 9 |
21-6 |
n/a |
1st |
n/a |
n/a |
0 |
|
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 1 |
23-9 |
29-14 |
16th |
8th |
2014 |
1 |
|
Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Regular-Season Champion |
29-3 |
1-2 |
3rd |
3rd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Siena Heights (Mich.) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Tournament Runner-Up |
26-7 |
1-2 |
3rd |
3rd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Southeastern (Fla.) |
The Sun Conference Regular-season Runner-up |
25-6 |
0-0 |
1st |
n/a |
n/a |
0 |
|
Southern Oregon |
At-Large No. 2 |
26-4 |
5-7 |
8th |
n/a |
2009 |
0 |
|
Southwestern (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
22-9 |
3-6 |
7th |
5th |
2014 |
0 |
|
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
The Sun Tournament Champion |
27-4 |
0-3 |
4th |
n/a |
2013 |
0 |
|
Tabor (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Regular-Season Champion |
19-12 |
3-5 |
6th |
2nd |
2014 |
0 |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan |
Appalachian Athletic Tournament Champion |
28-3 |
3-11 |
12th |
2nd |
2014 |
0 |
|
UC Merced (Calif.) |
California Pacific Tournament Champion |
14-11 |
0-0 |
1st |
n/a |
n/a |
0 |