Gold Nuggets earn #3 seed, face Benedictine In NAIA Regional

Video Announcement | Opening Round Schedule

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the teams and pairings for the 2021 NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship Opening Round. The 48-team NAIA Opening Round event at eight locations will occur from March 12-13.

The 2021 NAIA Opening Round winners and will meet up in Sioux City, Iowa, at the NAIA National Championship final site event. The 40th annual championship takes place at the Tyson Event Center from March 18-23.

This year’s opening round field includes 37 automatic qualifiers, 11 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 or were selected by a conference selection committee. 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.

The NAIA Network – the association’s official video streaming home – will broadcast all 15 games live at the 2021 NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. 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 32 teams in the championship field that also qualified for the 2020 championship: Bryan (Tenn.), Campbellsville (Ky.), Carroll (Mont.), Clarke (Iowa), College of the Ozarks (Mo.), Columbia (Mo.), Concordia (Neb.), Indiana Tech, Indiana Wesleyan, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), Loyola (La.), LSU Shreveport (La.), Lyon (Ark.), Marian (Ind.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Montana Western, Morningside (Iowa), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Providence (Mont.), Reinhardt (Ga.), Saint Xavier (Ill.), Shawnee State (Ohio), Southeastern (Fla.), St. Francis (Ill.), Sterling (Kan.), Thomas More (Ky.), Union (Ky.), Vanguard (Calif.), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Westmont (Calif.), WVU Tech (W.Va.).
• Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) enters this year’s field with a 10-year absence. The teams’ last appearance being in 2011.
• There are five teams that have qualified for the championship for the first time: Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.), Bethel (Kan.), Crowley’s Ridge (Ark.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.), Rochester (Mich.)
• Nine teams in the championship field that have 20 or more tournament appearances: Campbellsville (Ky.), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Shawnee State (Ohio), College of the Ozarks (Mo.), Vanguard (Calif.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Xavier (La.) Morningside (Iowa), Concordia (Neb.)
• Campbellsville (Ky.) enters the field with the most appearances at 29. Wayland Baptist (Texas) follows with 28 appearances of its own.
• The Mid-South Conference boasts five qualifiers in the 2020-21 championship field. The Heart of America Athletic Conference follows with four qualifiers of its own.
• The state of Kentucky will be represented by the highest number of qualifiers at five while Iowa and Kansas followed with four qualifiers respectively.
• Ten teams in the 2020-21 championship field have won at least one title: Northwestern (Iowa), Morningside (Iowa), Marian (Ind.), Indiana Wesleyan, Westmont (Calif.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Concordia (Neb.), Vanguard (Calif.), Shawnee State (Ohio), Montana Western
• Northwestern (Iowa) boasts the highest number of championship wins with five. Morningside (Iowa) follows with four of its own.
• The only teams to win back-to-back titles are: Northwestern (Iowa) (3, 2010-12), Morningside (Iowa) (2, 2004-05) and Marian (Ind.) (2, 2016-17)
• The 2019 champions for both DI (Montana Western) & DII (Concordia (Neb.)) return to the championship field in 2021.

2021 Qualifiers

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