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SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Davenport and Briar Cliff meet for the second straight year in the NAIA DII National Tournament Sweet 16. The Panthers advanced thanks to an 84-63 win over Cal State San Marcos while the home Chargers took out St. Thomas 79-50 in opening play on Wednesday. Check out below for a preview of the game and links on how to follow it live.

Tournament Homepage: Click Here

Tipoff: Friday, March 9, 4:30pm EST
Location: Sioux City, Iowa – Tyson Events Center
Live Video: Click Here (Fee)
Live Stats: Click Here

Internet Radio: Davenport Athletics Network (DAN)

The Opponent: #12 Briar Cliff University - website

Scout - Averaging 86.1 points per game, Briar Cliff is easily the top scoring team in all of NAIA DII women's basketball.  The Chargers of coach Mike Power are also first in the nation in steals, second in assists and third in field goal percentage. Briar Cliff did go through a late season tail-spin as they dropped six of their last nine after being ranked as high as No. 2 for most of the regular season.
 
Power brings a deep rotation into the tournament as senior guard Kylie Dilla leads the team in scoring at 12.6  points per game.  Kelsey Evans (11.1) and Kela Clark (10.7) are next in line as all three of their top scorers are dangerous perimeter players which is also true of freshman Mattie Murren who is averaging 9.2 per game.
 
The inside game includes 5'11 senior Megan Salcedo, 6'2 senior Kristen Twait, 6'1 senior Christa Stewart along with freshman Summer Gordon. All four players are averaging at least 5.8 points per game and will be ones to watch in a size comparison with Davenport's smaller lineup.
 
The Chargers have reached the tournament 10 times and sport a 19-9 overall record including a trip to the semifinals in 2010 and a second round loss to Davenport last season.

The Series: DU leads 2-0

Video Preview - Click Here

NAIA National Tournament History for DU – The 2011-12 squad is making their eighth consecutive appearance at the NAIA D2 National Tournament…Davenport has an overall record of 9-7 in those eight years…The Lady Panthers have advanced to at least the second round in the past five seasons…The furthest Davenport has reached is the championship game in 2010-11 where they lost to Northwestern (Iowa)…Davenport was the #8 seed in 2004-05, #6 in 2005-06, #5 in 2006-07, #2 in 2007-08 and #1 in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 as well as this year…Davenport has posted wins over Southeastern (Ka.), Indiana University-Southeast, Huntington University (Ind.), Maine at Machias, Briar Cliff, Cedarville (Ohio), Walsh (Ohio) and Tennessee Wesleyan College…
 
2011 Post-Season Quick Facts - Karlee Despres set a school record with 43 points in a 92-91 loss to NAIA DI Olivet Nazarene on Nov. 11...Despres has been voted WHAC player of the week twice...Carrie Grubius and Karlee Despres both joined the 1000 point club at the school...Team won the school's 6th straight WHAC regular season championship...Won 17 games in a row during the middle of the season...Posted a 12-2 record against NAIA DI and DI teams that are ranked in Top 25 or receiving votes...Won the University of St. Xavier Holiday Tournament over Christmas break...Four losses were by a combined 17 points...Tied the school and league record for WHAC wins in the regular season (16)...Karlee Despres named 1st Team All-WHAC, Karli Harris 2nd Team All-WHAC, Carrie Grubius 3rd Team All-WHAC