2016 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship Qualifiers & Bracket Announced
By Chad Waller, Director of Communications and Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (
Bracket |
Video Announcement |
Championship Schedule) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 32 qualifiers and bracket for the 25th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by Mercy Medical Center and Seaboard Triumph Foods. The event will be held in Sioux City, Iowa, for the 19th-straight season – the longest streak of any current championship host – at the Tyson Events Center from March 9 – 15.
The field is comprised of 22 automatic berths and 10 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 today.
The NAIA Network – the association’s official video streaming home – will video-stream all 28 games live leading up to the semifinals and final on ESPN3. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament package is available at $29.95. For more information and the pre-register, click
here.
For more information on the 2016 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, click
here.
Qualifier Highlights
• No. 1 overall seed Morningside (Iowa) owns the most wins in the NAIA at 31-2. The Mustangs have been ranked No. 1 in the Coaches’ Top 25 in each of the last two weeks and six overall this year.
• The defending national champs, Morningside won both the Great Plains Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships. The Mustangs are trying to repeat as national champions for the second time in history, with their previous occurrence coming in 2004-05.
• Southern Oregon has the best win percentage (.967) on the season amongst all the qualifiers with a 29-1 mark.
• Jamestown (N.D.) enters the postseason with the longest active regular-season win streak at 15 victories. The Jimmies have not lost during the 2016 calendar year. The last setback was Dec. 30, 2015 against then-No. 2 Morningside (Iowa), 79-60.
• Seven programs are making their first-ever national championship appearance: Asbury (Ky.), Clarke (Iowa), IU East (Ind.), Lawrence Tech (Mich.), Southeastern (Fla.), St. Francis (Ill.), UC Merced (Calif.).
• Morningside has posted four previous national titles – the most amongst the field. Hastings (Neb.) (3) and Indiana Wesleyan (2) are the only other teams this year that hoisted the red banner.
• Within the group of 25 teams making a previous appearance, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) and Goshen (Ind.) are snapping the longest drought. The two clubs last competed in the 2004 national championship.
• College of the Ozarks (Mo.), earning an automatic berth out of the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.), is punching its ticket to a NAIA-record 22nd overall championship. This year also marks the 15th-straight postseason for the Bobcats.
• Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) ties Ozarks by making its 15th-consecutive trip.
• Overall, 10 teams are making their 10th-or-better appearance.
• Ozarks leads the active list with 39 championship wins, followed by Hastings (35), Morningside (32) and Indiana Wesleyan (25).
• The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Great Plains Athletic Conference each boast six programs in the 2016 field, the most of any league. The A.I.I. and Crossroads League each landed three teams.
• Northwestern (Iowa) – a team with the most championship wins (46) and national titles (5) and one who appeared in the previous 10 events – failed to qualify this year.
• Five of the top 10 winningest active head coaches will be on the sidelines in Sioux City. Jamie Sale of Morningside, who is highest on the list, entered the 2015-16 season fourth with 466 career wins. Steve Brooks of Indiana Wesleyan (No. 5; 441 wins), Mike Power of Briar Cliff (Iowa) (No. 6-tie; 420 wins), Rich Aubrey of Milligan (Tenn.) (No. 8; 417 wins) and Bob Hallberg of Saint Xavier (Ill.) (No. 9; 385 wins).
2016 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship Qualifiers
| School |
Qualification |
Record^ |
Appearances |
Tour. Record |
Last Time |
Titles |
| Asbury (Ky.) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic tournament champion |
23-9 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
| Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
At-Large No. 4 |
22-9 |
12th |
23-11 |
2013 |
0 |
| Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
At-Large No. 3 |
24-7 |
20th |
15-19 |
2015 |
0 |
| Clarke (Iowa) |
Association of Independent Institutions tournament third-place |
19-12 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
| College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
Association of Independent Institutions tournament runner-up |
27-4 |
22nd |
39-21 |
2015 |
0 |
| Concordia (Neb.) |
At-Large No. 5 |
22-9 |
15th |
18-14 |
2015 |
0 |
| Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
Great Plains Athletic tournament runner-up |
25-8 |
4th |
9-3 |
2004 |
0 |
| Davenport (Mich.) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic tournament champion |
27-5 |
12th |
19-11 |
2015 |
0 |
| Dickinson State (N.D.) |
At-Large No. 10 |
23-8 |
4th |
4-3 |
2009 |
0 |
| Friends (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic tournament No. 2 seed |
22-10 |
8th |
1-7 |
2015 |
0 |
| Goshen (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 6 |
24-8 |
2nd |
0-1 |
2004 |
0 |
| Haskell (Kan.) |
Association of Independent Institutions tournament champion |
23-6 |
2nd |
0-1 |
2010 |
0 |
| Hastings (Neb.) |
At-Large No. 9 |
19-11 |
16th |
35-12 |
2015 |
3 |
| Indiana Wesleyan |
Crossroads tournament champion |
26-7 |
14th |
25-11 |
2015 |
2 |
| IU East (Ind.) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Colonial Division champion |
22-10 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
| Jamestown (N.D.) |
North Star Athletic tournament champion |
29-4 |
7th |
4-6 |
2014 |
0 |
| Lawrence Tech (Mich.) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic tournament runner-up |
24-3 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
| Marian (Ind.) |
Crossroads regular-season champion |
27-6 |
2nd |
0-1 |
2011 |
0 |
| Milligan (Tenn.) |
Appalachian Athletic regular-season champion |
23-7 |
6th |
2-5 |
2013 |
0 |
| Morningside (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic tournament champion |
31-2 |
14th |
32-10 |
2015 |
4 |
| Mount Marty (S.D.) |
At-Large No. 2 |
22-10 |
5th |
1-4 |
2011 |
0 |
| Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic tournament champion |
27-5 |
5th |
2-4 |
2015 |
0 |
| Oregon Tech |
Cascade Collegiate tournament No. 2 seed |
25-8 |
4th |
0-3 |
2015 |
0 |
| Purdue Calumet (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 8 |
22-8 |
4th |
2-3 |
2015 |
0 |
| Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
At-Large No. 1 |
29-3 |
4th |
1-3 |
2015 |
0 |
| Southeastern (Fla.) |
The Sun tournament champion |
24-5 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
| Southern Oregon |
Cascade Collegiate tournament champion |
29-1 |
8th |
5-7 |
2009 |
0 |
| St. Ambrose (Iowa) |
At-Large No. 7 |
22-9 |
12th |
7-11 |
2015 |
0 |
| St. Francis (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic regular-season champion |
28-4 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
| Tabor (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic tournament champion |
26-7 |
7th |
3-6 |
2015 |
0 |
| Tennessee Wesleyan |
Appalachian Athletic tournament champion |
17-9 |
13th |
3-12 |
2015 |
0 |
| UC Merced (Calif.) |
California Pacific tournament champion |
11-14 |
1st |
0-0 |
n/a |
0 |
^ According to team’s information on DakStats