AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific, making its fifth straight appearance at the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship tournament, will take on a first-time national tournament participant on Thursday, March 20, when it faces Wiley (Texas) College in the last of 16 first-round contests, with a scheduled start time of 9:45 p.m. Central.
The Cougars earned one of the 4 No. 3 seeds available in the bracketed quarter system employed for the NAIA women’s basketball tournament seedings, its highest ever since the NAIA began using bracketed quarters in 2003. Azusa Pacific was the third-place team in the Golden State Athletic Conference, and the Cougars enter the tournament with a 24-7 overall record after going 16-4 in conference play. All 4 of its conference losses came to other national tournament participants (Point Loma Nazarene, Vanguard and Westmont).
Wiley, which finished in second place in the Red River Athletic Conference with a 28-6 overall and 14-2 conference record, was ranked No. 22 in the final poll to earn one of the 15 at-large berths in the 32-team tournament field. The Wildcats advanced to the conference postseason tournament title game to take on regular-season champion Langston (Okla.), the only Red River team to hand Wiley a conference defeat this season. Langston posted a 61-55 victory to clinch the Red River’s automatic bid.
Wiley will be the second Red River opponent for Azusa Pacific, and it is also the second straight year the Cougars have matched up with the Red River Athletic Conference in the opening round after suffering a 77-74 defeat to Langston in last year’s tournament.
Click here for the complete NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship bracket. The NAIA has partnered with JumpTV to stream exclusive live video and audio of the NAIA Division I and Division II Men’s and Women’s Basketball National Championship tournaments. Three different subscription plans will be available for tournament coverage. Users may purchase the All-NAIA pass, which includes every NAIA basketball tournament game offered on JumpTV for $39.95. Any of the four tournaments may be purchased separately for $24.95 and any single game may be purchased for $7.95. Click here to purchase a subscription plan or visit www.watchnaia.com.
