Lady Cats Meet St. Xavier in Opening Round of NAIA Championships

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Video Announcement (Updated link coming soon) | Opening Round Page) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the teams and pairings for the 2022 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Opening Round. The 64-team NAIA Opening Round event at 16 locations will occur from March 11-12.

The 2022 NAIA Opening Round winners will meet up in Sioux City, Iowa, at the NAIA National Championship final site presented by Bomgaars. The 41^st annual championship takes place at the Tyson Events Center from March 17-22.

This year's Opening Round field includes 38 automatic qualifiers and 26 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament, were the third regular-season finisher or were selected by the final conference ARC rating. The at-large bids were determined by the Women's Basketball National Selection Committee. This committee consists of one representative from each geographical area and six at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria.

All Opening Round games will be streamed by the host and may be produced on various platforms.  

The NAIA Network – the association's official video streaming home – will broadcast all 15 games live in Sioux City at the 2022 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship final site. 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-championship tournament package is available at $34.95. For more information and to pre-register, CLICK HERE

Qualifier Highlights

• There are 35 teams in the championship field that also qualified for the 2021 championship: Benedictine (Kan.), Lyon (Ark.), Columbia (Mo.), Bryan (Tenn.), Reinhardt (Ga.), Carroll (Mont.), Concordia (Neb.), Cumberlands (Ky.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Montana Western, Northwestern (Iowa), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Providence (Mont.), Webber International (Fla.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Saint Xavier (Ill.), St. Francis (Ill.), Marian (Ind.), Indiana Wesleyan, Westmont (Calif.), Morningside (Iowa), Grand View (Iowa), Clarke (Iowa), Sterling (Kan.), Thomas More (Ky.), Dakota State (S.D.), Xavier (La.), Rio Grande (Ohio), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Loyola (La.), Southeastern (Fla.), Indiana Tech, Rochester (Mich.),
• IU South Bend (Ind.) enters this year's field with a 16-year absence. The teams' last appearance being in 2005.
• There are two teams that have qualified for the championship for the first time: Westcliff (Calif.) and Midway (Ky.)
• Eleven teams in the championship field that have 20 or more tournament appearances: Campbellsville (Ky.), Concordia (Neb.), Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Morningside (Iowa), Saint Francis (Ind.), Saint Xavier (Ill.), Sterling (Kan.), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Xavier (La.)
• Campbellsville (Ky.) enters the field with the most appearances at 30. Wayland Baptist (Texas) follows with 29 appearances of its own.
• The Mid-South Conference boasts eight qualifiers in the 2022 championship field. The Great Plains Athletic Conference follows with six qualifiers of its own.
• The states of Kentucky and Iowa will be represented by the highest number of qualifiers at seven while Indiana and California follow with six qualifiers each.
• Ten teams in the 2022 championship field have won at least one title: Concordia (Neb.), Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.), Indiana Wesleyan, Marian (Ind.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Montana Western, Morningside (Iowa), Northwestern (Iowa), Saint Francis (Ind.), Westmont (Calif.)
• Northwestern (Iowa) boasts the highest number of championship wins with five. Morningside (Iowa) follows with four of its own.
• The only teams in the 2022 field to win back-to-back titles are: Northwestern (Iowa) (3, 2010-12), Morningside (Iowa) (2, 2004-05) and Marian (Ind.) (2, 2016-17)
• The 2021 champion, Westmont (Calif.), returns to the championship field again in 2022.

2022 Qualifiers

The (RV) Bethel Lady Wildcats will play 18^th ranked St. Xavier in the opening round of the 41st Annual NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship.  Bethel and St. Xavier will meet in Omaha, Nebraska Friday.  Bethel and St. Xavier have met three time with the Cougars winning all three earlier matchups. The two last met in 2020 with St. Xavier winning 75-74 in McKenzie.

Opening Round Sites: Alexandria | Billings | Bowling Green | Crestview Hills | Dayton | Indianapolis | Lakeland | Marion | New Orleans | Newhall | Omaha | Park City | Plainview | Santa Barabra | Sioux City | Wichita

Bethel

Bethel received an at large bid and is a 12 seed in the tournament. The Cats are 19-13 and had won eight of their last ten games before losing to Georgetown in the MSC Quarterfinals. The Cats are 1-2 in neutral site games this season.

Bethel's Millie Bryant enters the championships with 1,311 career points and 641 career rebounds. She is 8^th in program history in scoring and 9^th in career rebounds. Earlier this season she became just the 10^th Lady Cat to score 1,000 points or more and collect 500 rebounds or more.

Bethel's Mickey Head enters the championships with 904 career rebounds and 288 career blocks. She has 1, 293 career points with 810 of those as a Lady Wildcat. Head is the all-time program leader in blocks.

The Wildcats average 65.4 and yield 58.8 points per game.

Bryant leads Bethel in scoring at 13.8 points per outing. The senior from Dresden, Tennessee native also averages six rebounds and three steals per game. Bryant leads the Cats in assists with 92.  Keely Morrow follows at 12.2 points per contest. She leads the squad in free throw attempts and made free throws. Ryann Roberts leads the squad in three-point attempts and in made treys. Jenna Foust averages 10.3 points per game. Head pops in 8.5 points and averages seven boards per game. The senior from Clarksville, Tennessee has 48 blocks on the season.

The Cats shoot 40 percent from the floor and 31 percent from behind the three-point arc. 

The Lady Wildcats have made 247 three-pointers on the season. They program record is 302 in 2014-15.

Trends & Numbers:

Bethel is 17-2 when they outshoot their opponents.

The Cats are 17-5 when they hit more three-pointers.

The Lady Cats are 15-0 when they outrebound their opponents.

Bethel is 14-1 when leading at the half.

The Cats are 11-9 when they have less turnovers.

Bethel is 9 -2 when they score 70 or more points in a game.

Bethel's Chris Nelson is in his 16^th year as head coach of the Wildcats. He has a record of 348-168 at the school. He is 15^th in wins among active coaches in the NAIA. 

His teams have hit at least one three-pointer in each of his 516 games. He has led the program to fourteen national tournament appearances which include two Elite Eights and three Sweet Sixteen appearances. His squad qualified for the 2020 national tourney which was not held due to Covid19. 

Coach Nelson shared his thoughts on the bid and the championships. "We never take for granted to punch our ticket in the National tournament. It always makes me think about our first few teams that fought for this stage and help put our program on the map. Anytime you can extend your season and have more opportunities to make memories is what it is all about. The MSC is well represented, and we hope to do our part to represent our great league."

Bethel is one of eight Mid-South Conference squads who will play in the championships.   

Saint Xavier University

The Cougars are 25-6 on the season. They won the Chicago Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title with a mark of 21-1. They lost to St. Francis (Il) in the CCAC Championship game.   The nationally 18^th ranked Cougars are a five seed entering the championships

The Cougars are led in scoring by Claire Austin who averages 14.3 points per outing. St. Xavier averages 78.6 points per game and yields 64.2 per game. Austin was a first team CCAC selection.

Dakota Wesleyan University

The (RV) Tigers are 26-7 on the year. They finished in a tied for third during the regular season in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. DWU beat Morningside 83-60 to capture the GPAC tournament title.

The Tigers are a four seed in the championships.

St. Francis (Ind.)

The 13^th seeded Cougars received an at large bid and sports a record of 17-9 overall. They finished third at 11-6 in the Crossroads Athletic Conference.

St. Francis had won six in a row before falling to Grace 68-62 in the opening round of the CAC tournament.