In Like A Lion

LUBBOCK, Texas (March 10, 2010) - The NAIA released the bracket to the 30th Annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship.  The 32-team tournament runs from March 17 - 23 at Oman Arena in Jackson, Tenn., and Lubbock Christian University received a six-seed and will face three-seed Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.) at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 18th. 

LCU received an at-large bid after posting a 19-11 record during the regular season.  The Lady Chaps rank third in the NAIA in free-throw shooting (77.2%) and they are 11th in field goal percentage at 44.8%.  LCU is led by the scoring of Brittany Hampton, who is a All-Sooner Athletic Conference selection and is averaging 11.6 points a game.

Freed-Hardeman qualified by claiming the TranSouth Athletic Conference Tournament title with a win over No.1 Union University (Tenn.) 75-62.  FHU is 26-6 on the season and are riding a three-game win streak entering the tournament.  They rank fifth in free-throw shooting (76.4%) and seventh in points per game (80.7).  The Lady Lions are led by 2009 State Farm / WBCA NAIA Player of the Year Jana Cross, who is averaging 16.2 points and 8.1 rebounds a game.  Tara Deatheridge ranks seventh in the NAIA in three-point field goals with 78 and ninth in treys per game (2.6). 

FHU, who opened last season against Wayland Baptist University in the national championship, defeated LCU in Jackson at the 2008 tournament 76-70.  Ashley Coggins, Brandi Raindl and Severyn Smith are the only remaining Lady Chap players that participated in that game.  Freed-Hardeman received 27 points from Cross in the Lady Lions win, and she went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line.  Deatheridge hit a trio of three-pointers in the game and finished with 11 points.  FHU out-scored LCU 22-7 from the line.

LCU is making their seventh consecutive trip to Jackson and they are 8-6 all-time at the national championship.  FHU is making their 14th appearance and they are 17-13 all-time.  The 2008 meeting is the only tournament meeting between the two teams and their only all-time meeting.  LCU is 1-3 all-time against TranSouth Athletic Conference Teams in the tournament. 

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.  Visit www.naia.org for additional information.

Lubbock Christian plans on broadcasting each of their games in Jackson, with Chris Due handling the play-by-play duties.  They will be working with the Sports Express Radio Network to have the games broadcasted on local radio as well.  An announcement will be forthcoming on broadcast plans.