KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Bracket) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 32 qualifiers and bracket for the 40th annual NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, presented by Visit Billings. The event returns to First Interstate Arena at Metra Park in Billings, Mont., March 18-24.

This year’s field consists of 14 automatic berths, 17 at-large selections and one host berth that Rocky Mountain (Mont.) will claim. Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, tournament champions or tournament runners-up depending on the league. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches’ Top 25 poll released today, which can be found HERE. Note: Ties in the final regular-season poll were broken by a tie break procedure set by the National Administrative Council (NAC).

The NAIA Network – the association’s official video streaming home – will broadcast the first 30 games leading up to the championship final on ESPN3. 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 and all-tournament packages are available. NAIA Network can be accessed HERE

For more information on the 2019-20 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, CLICK HERE.

Qualifier Highlights:

• There are no unbeaten teams at this year’s championship. There are four teams that recorded 30 or more wins: Oklahoma City, Wayland Baptist (Texas), Central Methodist (Mo.) and Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)

• Campbellsville (Ky.) holds the longest active appearance streak in this year’s field with 27 previous appearances as the Tigers will make their 28^th appearance this year. Wayland Baptist (Texas) follows with 26 previous appearances as the Flying Queens will make their 27^th appearance this year.

• There are five teams that have won a national championship in this year’s field: Oklahoma City, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), MidAmerican Nazarene (Kan.), Montana Western, Vanguard (Calif.) and Westmont (Calif.)

• The only team in the field to win multiple and back-to-back titles in this year’s field is Oklahoma City: 1999-2002, 2014-2015.

• The 2018-19 Champion, Montana Western returns to the 2019-20 national championship looking for its second title.

• The champions from the last eight years are a part of this year’s field: Oklahoma City, Westmont, MidAmerica Nazarene, Montana Western and Freed-Hardeman.

• All four of the 2018-19 semifinalists return to the 2019-20 championship: Freed-Hardeman, Montana Western, Oklahoma City, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)

• There are 23 teams that competed in the 2018-19 national championship and return in 2019-20.

• There are six teams in the field that have 20 or more tournament appearances: Campbellsville, Wayland Baptist, Oklahoma City, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Vanguard (Calif.).

• Evangel (Mo.) enters this year’s field with close to a 10 year absence. The teams last appearance being in 2011.

• There are four teams that have qualified for the tournament for the first time: Culver-Stockton (Mo.), Philander Smith (Ark.), Rust (Miss.) and Thomas More (Ky.)

• Rocky Mountain (Mont.) boasts its fifth appearance in the postseason. This year, the team qualified with the host bid.

• The Heart of America Athletic Conference boasts six programs in the 2019-20 field. The Frontier Conference follows with five teams and the American Midwest Conference and Mid-South Conference with four.

• Missouri boasts five teams that qualified for the championship. Montana follow with four qualifiers.

Make sure to download the Experience NAIA Championship App for updated news and information for the 2020 NAIA Division I and II Basketball Championships! Download the app HERE!

2019-20 Division I Women's Basketball National Championship Qualifiers