Lady Chaps Are Jackson Bound

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially released the field of 32 teams for the 30th Annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, held March 17 - 23 at Oman Arena in Jackson, Tenn.  Lubbock Christian University was one of 16 teams receiving an at-large bid, with LCU receiving the 11^th at-large bid.

College Fanz Sports Network, the world's largest online college sports community launched by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen, will offer live video streaming broadcasts of the tournament bracket starting Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. CST. This broadcast will be available, live, free and on-demand, at www.CollegeFanz.com.

Union (Tenn.) will make its 19^th consecutive appearance (1992-2010) and 21^st overall, which is most among the qualifiers for the championship. Union and Oklahoma City have each won four national championships, which is the most among the championship qualifiers.

Montana Tech, Southern Polytechnic State (Ga.) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) is each making its first appearance in the event. Montana Tech received an at-large bid, while Southern Polytechnic State was the Southern States Athletic Conference regular-season champion. Southwestern Assemblies of God qualified as the Red River Athletic Conference tournament runner-up.

The Golden State Athletic Conference, TranSouth Athletic Conference and the Sooner Athletic Conference are each represented by four schools in the field.  Joining LCU in the field is Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma Baptist and Oklahoma City.  Rogers State and Wayland Baptist did not qualify, which means LCU could have possibly missed an invitation with a loss during regular season conference play.  LCU (19-11) is making their seventh consecutive trip to Jackson, where they are 8-6 all-time.

The 32-team field is comprised of 16 automatic qualifiers from NAIA affiliated conferences and 16 at-large selections, which are determined using the final Top 25 rating released on March 2.

Thirty-one games will be played in Jackson. The first 30 games will be video-streamed by NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. Three different subscription plans for basketball (Men's and Women's Division I; Men's and Women's Division II) will be available for tournament coverage. Users can purchase the All-Tournament pass, which includes every event offered on College Sports Direct from all four basketball championships for $39.95. Each of the four basketball championships can be purchased separately for $24.95 and any single day can be purchased for $9.95. In order to view the streaming, click here.

The Championship final on March 23 will be televised live nationally on CBS College Sports Television with tipoff at 9 p.m. CST.

For more information on the Championships | click here
For complete conference tournament breakdown | click here
For the final Top 25 poll | click here

^As reported on conference websites
*Includes this season