The Drovers Enter NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship as No. 13 Seed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Thursday evening, the NAIA announced the 64-team field for the 2024 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship, and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (19-10, 15-7 SAC) was selected as a No. 13 seed and will open play in Madison, S.D. against the No. 4 seed Dakota State University (25-6, 11-1 NSAA). The appearance in the NAIA National Championship tournament is the seventh in program history for the Drovers, and the fifth appearance under Darrick Matthews' guidance.

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Each first and second round site will feature four teams and will play single elimination on Friday and Saturday, March 15-16. The winner of the final game will go to the NAIA Championship Final Site in Sioux City, Iowa.

This year's first round field includes 37 automatic qualifiers and 27 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title or regular season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament or were otherwise selected by the conference. The NAIA Women's Basketball National Selection Committee determined the at-large bids. The selection committee consists of one representative from each geographical area and six at-large members consisting of coaches and administrators from around the country.

The Drovers finished in fifth place during the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season and had their SAC Tournament run stifled in the quarterfinals, while the Trojans were the runner-up during the North Star Athletic Association regular season as well as in the NSAA Tournament. They also locked up an automatic bid into the national tournament as a host site. 

On the other side of the four-team bracket is the host and No. 5 seed Grand View University (27-4, 20-4 HAAC) and they will face No. 12 seed IU South Bend (30-1, 19-1 CCAC).

Grand View was the regular season runner-up and tournament champion of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, while IU South Bend won the CCAC regular season championship and tournament championship. The winner of each of the Opening Round contests will face on Saturday, March 16.

-REGULAR-SEASON HIGHLIGHTS –

Head Coach Darrick Matthews once again frequently led his squad to success, achieving the program's seventh consecutive winning season. Since taking over as the head coach in 2015, has posted an 167-94 (.640) win-loss record with the Drovers, and he is 190-113 (.627) overall in his career. He has led the Drovers to a SAC Regular-Season Championship in 2018, earning himself SAC Coach of the Year. Matthews has helped produce one SAC Player of the Year award, four SAC Defensive Player of the Year awards, one SAC Newcomer of the Year award, four SAC All-Tournament selections, 24 All-SAC selections, and nine NAIA All-American selections. Under Matthews' direction the Drovers have made five NAIA National Championship appearances.

LAINEY MORROW - All-Conference 1st Team

Lainey Morrow added to her trophy collection with her second consecutive first-team All-SAC selection. Morrow has also collected a NAIA All-American selection in 2023 and earned a spot on the SAC All-Freshman team in 2022. Earlier this season, Morrow became the seventh member of the program's 1000-point club, and now ranks at No. 4 in the record book with 1172 points. She also ranks No. 3 in program history with 636 rebounds.

This season, Morrow has been spectacular, averaging 16.7 points per game, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. She is one of the most efficient players in the conference, shooting 53.5 percent from the field.

DIAKA BERETE - All-Conference 2nd Team

The All-SAC selection is the second consecutive recognition for the guard, after earning a spot on the third-team a season ago. In 29 games this season, Berete has averaged 13.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. 

JORDAN BLOOMFIELD - All-Conference Honorable Mention

Jordan Bloomfield was one of the best shooters in the conference this season, shotting over 38-percent from the field for a total of 8.9 points per game. 

In her career at USAO, Bloomfield has scored 683 points and has knocked down 140 three-pointers which is the third most in program history.

CRYSTAL ORTIZ - All-Conference Honorable Mention

Crystal Ortiz has an excellent first season as a Drover, averaging 10.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. She especially got hot hate in the season, tallying 10 points or more in 12 of the team's last 13 games played. The transfer has surpassed 20 points on three different occasions this year. 

DEVYNN HARRIS – SAC ALL-Freshman Team

The sharpshooter averaged 4.0 points per game this season and knocked down 33.3 percent of her shots from beyond the arc. Harris scored a season-high of 14 points in USAO's win at OCU on February 17.

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