By Justin Bryant, IWU Sports Info

Sioux City, IA (March 12, 2008) – The third-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball team lost 49-38 to sixth-seeded William Jewell Wednesday in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.

The Wildcats (28-6) were never able to overcome a halftime deficit of 22-15. IWU started the second half with a 6-0 run to cut the William Jewell lead to 22-21, but the Cardinals countered with a 10-1 run to stretch the IWU deficit to 32-22.


IWU cut into the Cardinal lead once again as senior Lisa Thompson put in two buckets underneath the basket and senior Brooke Amstutz added a three-pointer to make the score 34-29. The Wildcats never got closer than that down the stretch as William Jewell pulled away for the 49-38 win.

Thompson had a game-high 13 points for the Wildcats. Amstutz added seven points while pulling down six rebounds. Freshman Elaine Hessel added eights points and six rebounds. Freshman Kayla Thompson scored eight points and Jena Schafer added two points from the free throw line.

The loss ends the Wildcats’ recording breaking season in which they set the NAIA record for most consecutive wins with 56 as they started the year with 18 consecutive wins added to their 38-0 season of 2006-2007.

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.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is proud to partner with CBS College Sports Network (CSTV) to broadcast live the NAIA Division I men's basketball semifinal games, and the NAIA Division I and Division II Men's and Women's Basketball Championship games. The full programming schedule is below.

On Tuesday, March 18 (6:30 PM, CT), the network will broadcast a doubleheader beginning with the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship (6:30 PM, CT), followed by the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Championship (8:30 PM, CT). Ann Schatz and analyst Sonya Reeler call the women's game, while Jason Knapp and Steve Wolf broadcast the men's action.

CBS College Sports Network will air both NAIA Division I men's basketball semifinal games on Monday, March 24 (6:30 and 8:45 PM, CT). On Tuesday, March 25 action continues with a doubleheader beginning with the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship (6:30 PM, CT), featuring Schatz and analyst Tammy Blackburn. Immediately following the game, play-by-play announcer Tom Hart and Wolf call the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship (8:30 PM, CT).

In addition to television coverage, CBS College Sports Network will carry live online video streaming broadcasts of the four championship games through its Pay Per View service. Fans can visit www.CSTVPPV.com to purchase any of the championship games for $9.95. All other games will be video streamed and may be purchased by visiting www.watchnaia.com.

Live Coverage of NAIA Basketball Championship Games:

17th Annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball:
CBS College Sports Network will broadcast the championship game live on
Tuesday, March 18, (6:30 PM, CT).

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) releases the qualifiers for the 17th Annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship. The tournament will be held at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa on March 12-18, 2008.

This year's 32 teams include 23 automatic qualifiers and nine at-large bids. The at-large berths are selected using the final regular-season rating released on Feb. 27th.

The 23 automatic qualifiers include: Aquinas (Mich.), Benedictine (Kan.), Berea (Ky.), Bethel (Ind.), Black Hills (S.D.), Cardinal Stritch (Wis.), Daemen (N.Y.), Eastern Oregon, Holy Names (Calif.), King (Tenn.), Maine at Fort Kent, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Morningside (Iowa), Northwestern (Iowa), Northwood (Fla.), Ohio Dominican, Ozarks (Mo.), Shawnee State (Ohio), Southern Oregon, Southwestern (Kan.), Saint Ambrose (Iowa), Sterling (Kan.) and Union (Ky.).

Concordia (Neb.), Cornerstone (Mich.), Dakota State (S.D.), Davenport (Mich.), Hastings (Neb.), Indiana Wesleyan, Minot (N.D.), Rio Grande (Ohio) and William Jewell (Mo.) received an at-large bid into the tournament.

The official tournament bracket will be released by 5 p.m. (CST) on Wednesday, March 5th.

By Justin Bryant, IWU Sports Info

Mishawaka, IN (March 3, 2008) – The NAIA No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball team failed to fully overcome a 13 point first half deficit as they fell 50-45 to NAIA No. 5 Bethel College Monday night.

The Wildcats (28-5) fell behind early as the Pilots started the game with a 13-0 run. IWU was able to fight back in the first half behind the play of freshman Elaine Hessel, who had a team-high eight points in the first half, to cut the halftime lead to 23-21.
IWU senior Brooke Amstutz knocked down a three-pointer with 10 minutes left to play in the game to tie the score for the first time since the opening tip-off 34-34. The Wildcats and Pilots traded baskets down the stretch as neither team could pull away.

The Wildcats took their first and only lead of the game 45-44 with just a minute and half left to play as senior Lisa Thompson completed an old-fashioned three-point play at the free throw line. Bethel shut out the Wildcats for the rest of the game though as they scored the final six points of the game for the 50-45 victory.

Thompson led the Wildcats with 12 points. The only other IWU player in double figures was junior Andrea Fichter with 10 points.

IWU has received an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa on March 12-18.

Indiana Wesleyan University senior guard Brooke Amstutz scored point No. 1,000 in her career on Friday, February 29.

Amstutz hit a 3-pointer from the corner late in the second half to help propel the Wildcats to the Mid-Central College Conference championship game. Indiana Wesleyan defeated Taylor (Ind.) University 65-56 in the MCC semifinals.

The Toledo, Ohio native averages 12.8 points per game this season for the NAIA No. 11-ranked Wildcats.