FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University women's basketball team will open the 2017 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship presented by Wells Fargo on Thursday, March 16th when they face Shawnee State University in the First Round. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT.
NAIA National Championship
- The 37th annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by Wells Fargo will be held at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in Billings, Mont. March 15-21
- The NAIA Network – the association's official video streaming home – will broadcast the first 30 games leading up to the championship final on ESPN3. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament package is available at $29.95. For more information and to pre-register,
click here.
-To view the complete tournament schedule,
click here.
Previous Meetings In the NAIA National Championship
- The Owls and Bears have met one other time in the NAIA National Championship. The previous meeting came on March 14th, 2012 in the 2012 NAIA National Championship
- The Bears, two seed, met the Owls, seven seed, in the first round of the championship. Shawnee State came away with a 67-48 victory
- This meeting will be the second meeting for these two programs
About the Owls
- William Woods enters the national championship with a 20-11 record on the season. This is the ninth straight season the Owls have won 20 or more games
- This is the tenth trip for the Owls to the national championship and WWU holds a 2-9 record at the national championship
- On the season, the Owls are scoring 71.6 points per game and have two players scoring in double-figures
- On the season,
Jasmine Brown led the Owls with 14.5 points per game. Brown shot 52.4 percent from the floor on the season. She also led the Owls with 6.5 rebounds per game on the season
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Jasmine Brown,
April Gebke and
Peyton Greenlee received All-AMC honors this season. Brown earned First Team honors, Gebke named Third Team and Greenlee earned Honorable Mention honors
- On the season the Owls have 499 assists on the season, which is the tenth best in the nation
- William Woods ranks fifth in the nation in assists to turnover ratio (1.226)
- The Owls are shooting 43.0 percent from the floor and 33.6 percent from behind the arc on the season. The 43.0 percent from the floor is 16th best in the nation and the three-point percentage is the 18th best mark in the nation
About the Bears
- Shawnee State enters the 2017 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by Wells Fargo, with a 31-2 record on the season. The last loss for the Bears came on January 21st when they lost to then-No. 4 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), 84-78
- Both of the losses for the Bears were six points or less. Shawnee State lost by six, 84-78, to Lindsey Wilson and lost by four, 84-80, in overtime to then-No. 18 Bethel (Tenn.) on December 18th
- The Bears are making its seventh trip to nationals and they hold a record of 8-6 in the national championship
- Shawnee State enters the national championship with a 10-2 record against ranked or receiving votes teams this season
- The Bears have the best scoring offense in the NAIA as they are averaging 89.3 on the season. Thirteen times this season, the Bears have scored 90 or more points in a contest
- Leading the offensive attack for the Bears is Jonessa Moore, who is averaging 18.2 points per game. Moore is one of four players scoring in double-figures for the Bears.
- As a team, Shawnee State is shooting 48.8 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from behind the arc. Moore is leading the Bears shooting from the field as she is shooting 58.7 percent from the floor. The Bears have three players shooting 49.4 percent from behind the arc on the season.
- Shawnee State is holding opponents to 65.6 points per game on the season and holding opponents to 38.2 percent from the field
