Milligan, Johnson Advance to NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship

(Story provided by NAIA Athletic Communications)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – [Video Announcement | First/Second Round Schedule Page | Bracket] The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the teams and bracket for the 2025 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds, presented by Ballogy. The 64-team bracket will begin with the First and Second Rounds at host sites nationwide on March 14-15. The 2025 NAIA Second Round winners will meet in Sioux City, Iowa, at the NAIA Championship final site presented by Bomgaars and Sterling. The 44^th annual championship occurs at the Tyson Events Center from March 20-25.

This year's first-round field includes 35 automatic qualifiers and 29 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title or regular season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament, or were otherwise selected by the conference. The NAIA Women's Basketball National Selection Committee determined the at-large bids. The selection committee consists of one representative from each geographical area and six at-large members comprised of coaches and administrators from around the country.

The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) saw two teams advance to the national tournament in Milligan and Johnson. The two teams finished as the regular-season co-champions, with Milligan earning an automatic berth as the tournament champion. Johnson earned the AAC's other automatic berth as the co-champ and the tournament No. 2 seed. This is Johnson's first-ever appearance in the national tournament.

The host will stream all first and second round games, and each stream may be produced on various platforms.  

The 2025 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship final site is broadcast FREE on the NAIA Channel of the Urban Edge Network and the newly redesigned NAIA Network for all games at the final site in Sioux City, Iowa. For more information and to pre-register, click here.

Qualifier Highlights

• Campbellsville (Ky.) holds the highest number of appearances, not only in the championship field, but also all-time championship history with 33 total appearances.
• There are 13 teams in the championship field with 20 or more appearances: Columbia (Mo.) 20, Northwestern (Iowa) 20, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 20, Hastings (Neb.) 21, Indiana Wesleyan 21, Sterling (Kan.) 21, Xavier (La.) 23, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 26, Shawnee State (Ohio) 26, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 27, College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 28, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 31 and Campbellsville (Ky.) 32.
• Three teams enter the championship field for the first time this season: Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.), Johnson (Tenn.) and Lourdes (Ohio).
• Montana Tech last appeared in the championship field in 2011 and ends a 13-year drought, qualifying for the tournament with an at-large bid.
• The Mid-South Conference boasts the largest number of teams in the field with six teams. Four conferences had five teams qualify: Cascade Collegiate Conference, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, Crossroads League and Great Plains Athletic Conference.
• Thirty-nine of the 64 teams in the tournament field also qualified for the 2024 championship.
• Eleven teams in the field have won a title before: Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 1, Dordt (Iowa) 1, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 1, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 1, Saint Francis (Ind.) 1, Shawnee State (Ohio) 1, Southeastern (Fla.) 1, Indiana Wesleyan 2, Marian (Ind.) 2, Hastings (Neb.) 3 and Northwestern (Iowa) 5.
• Defending national champions, Dordt (Iowa) returns to the field after winning the Red Banner in 2024.
• Three teams in the field have won a title back-to-back years: Hastings (Neb.) 2002-2003 and Marian (Ind.) 2016-2017, while Northwestern (Iowa) is the only team in the field to go back-to-back-to-back from 2010-2012.
• Southern Oregon is the only undefeated team in the field at 31-0.
• Northwestern (Iowa) has the highest number of tournament wins in the field with 53 wins.