NAIA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Sioux Center, Iowa | De Witt Gymnasium | All times Pacific
March 13 (Round of 64)
3:30 p.m. – (1) Dordt (Iowa) vs. (16) Simpson (Calif.)
5:30 p.m. – (8) Rocky Mountain (Mont.) vs. (9) Southern Oregon
March 14 (Round of 32)
1 p.m. – TBD

BRACKET | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

ASHLAND – For the fifth year in a row, Southern Oregon is back in the NAIA Women's Basketball National Tournament.

The Raiders (19-10 overall) will head to Sioux Center, Iowa, home of the back-to-back defending national champions, for the first and second rounds after being granted an at-large bid in the 64-team field on Thursday. As the No. 9 seed in the Cramer Quadrant of the bracket, they'll open the tourney against No. 8 seed Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (20-9) on March 13 at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

Their game will be preceded by a matchup between top-seeded Dordt (Iowa) (29-2) – the host of the four-team pod, aiming for a third straight title – and No. 16 seed Simpson (Calif.) (17-7). The winners will meet in the Round of 32 on March 14 at 1 p.m. PT for a trip to the 16-team final site in Sioux City, Iowa, where the last four rounds of the tournament take place March 19-24.

The Raiders were among six Cascade Conference teams that qualified. They've won first-round games each of the last four seasons under coach Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt and last year advanced to the national quarterfinals as a No. 2 seed.

Rocky Mountain tied for third place in the Frontier Conference and was ranked No. 22 in the final NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll, but needed an at-large bid after going out in the quarterfinals of the FC Tournament. The Battlin' Bears went 2-1 against CCC opponents in non-conference play, defeating Bushnell and Oregon Tech and losing to Lewis-Clark State (Idaho). They've played SOU only once previously, during the 2007-08 season, and will be attempting to avenge last year's first-round loss to St. Francis (Ill.).

Dordt won the regular-season Great Plains Athletic Conference championship with a 21-1 record before falling in the GPAC Tournament final. Simpson qualified by capturing the California Pacific Conference Tournament title.

A complete tournament preview will be published next week.