By Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 32-team field for the 35th annual NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, presented by Susan G. Komen® Greater Kansas City. For the first time in NAIA history, the event will be held at the Independence Events Center in Independence, Mo., from March 18 – 24.

The official championship bracket will be announce via a live video show at 7 p.m. CDT. The program will air on www.NAIANetwork.com.

The field consists of 15 automatic berths, 16 at-large selections and championship host William Woods (Mo.). Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, tournament champions or tournament runners-up, depending on the league. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches’ Top 25 Poll released earlier today.

Top-ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) headlines the field, as the only one-loss team entering the national championship. The Lady Lions boast a NAIA-best 32-game winning streak coming into the event. Freed-Hardeman’s only loss was a 2-0 forfeit in its season opener against Martin Methodist (Tenn.) on Nov. 4. The program earned an automatic berth by winning the American Midwest Conference (AMC) regular-season and tournament championships for the second-straight season.

The Lady Lions are making their 19th-straight appearance in the national championship – the longest active streak among the qualifiers – and own a 28-18 (.609) all-time record. Last season, Freed-Hardeman reached the championship final for the first time in program history.

Defending national champion Oklahoma City returns to the field for the 18th-consecutive season. The Stars won the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament to claim an automatic berth. Oklahoma City, which has claimed the coveted red banner two out of the last three seasons, looks to make noise again this year.

With last year’s title, the Stars now own more national championships (7) and the most championship victories (61) among active NAIA programs. Additionally, Oklahoma City’s 21 all-time appearances is third among the qualifiers, trailing Campbellsville (Ky.) (23) and Wayland Baptist (Texas) (22).

Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) members Vanguard (Calif.) and Westmont (Calif.) join Oklahoma City as the only teams among the field with a national title. The Lions took home the banner in 2008, while Westmont cut down the nets in 2013.

Three of the four semifinalists from a year ago are back in 2015 – Freed-Hardeman, Oklahoma City and Wiley. Wiley, which was arguably the Cinderella story of the 2014 event, received the fifth at-large into the championship field. The Wildcats are 22-4 on the year. Wiley owns a 4-3 all-time record at the championship, with three of those victories coming in last year’s run.

Four conferences – the Frontier Conference, GSAC, Mid-South Conference and Red River Athletic Conference – placed at least four teams in the field of 32.

Eleven of the 32 qualifiers have made at least 10 appearances at the national championship, led by previously mentioned Campbellsville (23). Outside of the Tigers, Wayland Baptist (22), Oklahoma City (21), Freed-Hardeman (19), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (18), Oklahoma Baptist (17), Vanguard (17), Langston (Okla.) (12), Montana State-Northern (12), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (10) and Westmont (10) have made 10-or-more trips.

Great Falls (Mont.) and Martin Methodist (Tenn.) are making their first-ever national championship. Both programs received at-large spots.

Fifteen programs will also have representation at the 2015 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship – Benedictine (Kan.), Bethel (Tenn.), Campbellsville, Cal State San Marcos, Concordia (Calif.), Freed-Hardeman, Lewis-Clark State, LSU Shreveport (La.), Martin Methodist, Oklahoma City, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), Pikeville (Ky.), Wayland Baptist, Westmont and Wiley. The men’s championship runs congruently to the women’s at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

Twenty-two teams return from the 2014 field.

The first 30 games of the national championship will be video-streamed live on www.NAIANetwork.com, the NAIA’s official video-streaming platform powered by Stretch Internet. For more information, click here. The championship final will air on ESPN3 for the second-straight year.

For more information on the 2015 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, click here.