Tournament Begins Today

03/12/08
The 17th Annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship will be held at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa on March 12-18, 2008.

The 32-team, single elimination tournament will start with the first round games on Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 13 and will end with the championship game on Tuesday, March 18.

The tournament will be held in Sioux City for the 11th straight season.  Prior to that the championships were held in Monmouth, Ore. from 1992-95 and Angola, Ind. from 1996-97.

In 2007 Indiana Wesleyan defeated College of the Ozarks (Mo.), 48-34, in the national championship game and captured the school's first title.  The Wildcats finished the season with a prefect 38-0 record and became the first undefeated team in NAIA Division II history.

Three schools have captured back-to-back titles in Division II history.  Western Oregon (1995 and 1996), Hastings (Neb.) (2002 and 2003) and Morningside (Iowa) (2004 and 2005) all defended their title after winning their first championship.

Hastings has captured the most championships with three, while Morningside, Northern State (S.D.) and Western Oregon all won two titles.

College of the Ozarks (Mo.) is making its 14th NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament appearance, most by any DII women's basketball teams.  The 2008 trip also marks the seventh straight for Ozarks.

Shawnee State (Ohio) is making its 13th trip to the tournament while Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) and Sterling (Kan.) are appearing in their 12th.