Northwestern College learned its postseason fate with the announcement of the 2018 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship bracket by the national office earlier tonight.
For Complete Bracket CLICK HERE
The Red Raiders earned the No.3 seed in the Duer Bracket and will play 22nd-ranked and No.6 seed Friends (Kan.) in a first round match-up on Thursday, March 8 at 8:30am.
Northwestern is making its second straight and 16th overall appearance at the championship, owning a 47-10 all-time record at the tournament. The Red Raiders have the most wins (47) and championships (5) at the D-II event. Head Coach Chris Yaw’s squad finished tied for second with Dakota Wesleyan in the Great Plains Athletic Conference regular season and then lost to the Tigers in the semifinals of the tournament. They are 22-8 on the season and received the second of nine at-large bids into the 32-team field. Northwestern is one of five teams from the GPAC in the field, joining Concordia, DWU, Hastings and Morningside.
One of two teams from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) in the field, Friends secured one of the two automatic bids allocated to the conference by winning the regular season title with a 20-2 record. They lost to Tabor in the conference title game, ending a 15-game win streak, and are 24-8 on the year. Friends is making its third straight and 10th overall championship appearance, owning a 1-8 all-time record. The Falcons defeated Hastings in the first round before bowing out to Saint Xavier in the round of 16 last year. First year head coach Nicole Midder inherited a team with four starters and 11 players returning. They rank second in the NAIA with 490 steals and are led by Betty Akathiotou at 15.1 points per game.
