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SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Davenport University's women's basketball team will be making its second appearance in the NAIA National Championship game in the last three seasons when it faces Indiana Wesleyan on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. EST. DU reached the finals thanks to a 74-68 win over three-time defending champion Northwestern and the Wildcats are here after a 65-64 win over Morningside (Iowa). Fans can hear the game live on the Davenport Athletics Network (DAN) with Ken Clemens on the call.
 
Indiana Wesleyan, who spent seven weeks ranked No. 1 in the country in NAIA DII women's basketball will be the final opponent of the season for Davenport as the two square off in the championship game on Tuesday night. CBS Sports Network will have the game live beginning at 7:00 p.m. EST. The Wildcats, under 15^th year head coach Steve Brooks, will be gunning for their second championship as they also won it in 2007 in a season that saw them go 38-0.
 
Davenport and Indiana Wesleyan have met twice before with the Lady Panthers winning the last matchup in December of 2009 when No. 2 DU posted a 57-50 over No. 4 IWU.  Leah Sevcik is the lone Panther remaining from that team and the true freshman had two assists and one foul in just four minutes of game action. IWU's win came in 2002-03 as the Wildcats handed the first-year program at Davenport a 95-58 setback.

IWU enters the game with an overall record of 33-3 as they have defeated Point Park (61-31), Grand View (49-27), Briar Cliff (69-57) and Morningside (65-64) to get to the title game. Senior Paige Smith leads the Wildcats in scoring as she averaged 16.1 points per game. Sarah Ray, a fellow senior, is the only other play to average in double-figures as the Wildcats use their defense as their calling card as they lead the NAIA in scoring defense (47.4 ppg allowed).

The 32-team field is comprised of 21 automatic qualifiers from NAIA affiliated conferences and independents, plus 11 at-large selections, which were determined using the final Top 25 poll released on Wednesday.
 
Eight teams are appearing in the National Championship for at least the 10th time in school history, led by the 19 appearances made by College of the Ozarks (Mo.). Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) has the second most with 17 trips. Eight schools have qualified for the National Championship for the first time ever: Mayville State (N.D.), Oklahoma Wesleyan, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Purdue Calumet (Ind.), Reinhardt (Ga.), Roosevelt (Ill.), Saint Xavier (Ill.) and Siena Heights (Mich.). Olivet Nazarene and Saint Xavier are first year Division II members, have made trips to the Division I National championship.

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