Aquinas is making their eighth appearance at nationals and have a 3-4 record in tournament play.  The Saints come in on a hot streak having defeated Cornerstone and Madonna in their last two games as the WHAC #3 seed to earn the automatic bid.

 

Davenport, the #6-ranked team in the nation garnered the #2 at-large bid after posting a 27-5 record thus far.  The Panthers hope to ride the play of All-American Jeanette Woodberry to their first ever NAIA Tournament victory.  They are 0-3 in their previous appearances.

 

Joining them will be regular season co-champion Cornerstone University.  The Golden Eagles received the #6 at-large berth after falling to Aquinas in the WHAC semi-finals.  Coach Carla Sterk takes her squad to the dance for the fifth time in program history and look to improve on their 7-5 record in championship play.

 

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 4 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, March 5th.