KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the teams and pairings for the 2022 NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship Opening Round. The 64-team NAIA Opening Round event at 16 locations will occur from March 11-12.

The 2022 NAIA Opening Round winners will meet up in Sioux City, Iowa, at the NAIA National Championship final site presented by Bomgaars. The 41^st annual championship takes place at the Tyson Events Center from March 17-22.

This year’s Opening Round field includes 38 automatic qualifiers and 26 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament, were the third regular-season finisher or were selected by the final conference ARC rating. The at-large bids were determined by the Women’s Basketball National Selection Committee. This committee consists of one representative from each geographical area and six at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria.

All Opening Round games will be streamed by the host and may be produced on various platforms.

Qualifier Highlights

• There are 35 teams in the championship field that also qualified for the 2021 championship: Benedictine (Kan.), Lyon (Ark.), Columbia (Mo.), Bryan (Tenn.), Reinhardt (Ga.), Carroll (Mont.), Concordia (Neb.), Cumberlands (Ky.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Montana Western, Northwestern (Iowa), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Providence (Mont.), Webber International (Fla.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Saint Xavier (Ill.), St. Francis (Ill.), Marian (Ind.), Indiana Wesleyan, Westmont (Calif.), Morningside (Iowa), Grand View (Iowa), Clarke (Iowa), Sterling (Kan.), Thomas More (Ky.), Dakota State (S.D.), Xavier (La.), Rio Grande (Ohio), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Loyola (La.), Southeastern (Fla.), Indiana Tech, Rochester (Mich.),
• IU South Bend (Ind.) enters this year’s field with a 16-year absence. The teams’ last appearance was in 2005.
• There are two teams that have qualified for the championship for the first time: Westcliff (Calif.) and Midway (Ky.)
• Eleven teams in the championship field that have 20 or more tournament appearances: Campbellsville (Ky.), Concordia (Neb.), Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Morningside (Iowa), Saint Francis (Ind.), Saint Xavier (Ill.), Sterling (Kan.), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Xavier (La.)
• Campbellsville (Ky.) enters the field with the most appearances at 30. Wayland Baptist (Texas) follows with 29 appearances of its own.
• The Mid-South Conference boasts eight qualifiers in the 2022 championship field. The Great Plains Athletic Conference follows with six qualifiers of its own.
• The states of Kentucky and Iowa will be represented by the highest number of qualifiers at seven while Indiana and California follow with six qualifiers each.
• Ten teams in the 2022 championship field have won at least one title: Concordia (Neb.), Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.), Indiana Wesleyan, Marian (Ind.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Montana Western, Morningside (Iowa), Northwestern (Iowa), Saint Francis (Ind.), Westmont (Calif.)
• Northwestern (Iowa) boasts the highest number of championship wins with five. Morningside (Iowa) follows with four of its own.
• The only teams in the 2022 field to win back-to-back titles are: Northwestern (Iowa) (3, 2010-12), Morningside (Iowa) (2, 2004-05) and Marian (Ind.) (2, 2016-17)
• The 2021 champion, Westmont (Calif.), returns to the championship field again in 2022.

2022 Qualifiers