8:15 a.m. (PDT) Wednesday - #10 SOU vs. #21 Robert Morris (Ill.) - Live Stats - Live Stream
Tournament Bracket - Tournament Press Book - NAIA Preview

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – By the time Southern Oregon and Robert Morris (Ill.) are done going at it in the first round of the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championships, one program will have earned a breakthrough victory.

The 10th-ranked Raiders (26-4 overall) are making their eighth appearance in the tournament – their first was in 1997 and the most recent was in 2009 – but haven't won there in 16 years. The 21st-ranked Eagles (21-6) will be appearing on the national stage for the first time.

They're locked in for the second game of the first round at 8:15 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday at the Tyson Events Center.

According to SOU head coach Lynn Kennedy, the Raiders' best chance of advancing in the 32-team field is to stick to the same script that made them so tough on opponents during the regular season, when they established themselves as one of the most explosive teams in the nation.

"Sometimes teams get back to a tournament like this and change the way they play, but we have to stay consistent to who we are," Kennedy said. "That means creating tempo, playing good defense and being the better rebounders."

The winner will play at 6:30 a.m. Friday against either seventh-ranked Marian (Ind.) or Tabor (Kan.). The bracket is split up into quadrants, and the Raiders are the No. 3 seed in theirs. Top-ranked Davenport (Mich.) is No. 1, Marian is No. 2 and Menlo (Calif.) is No. 4.

Last season higher seeds went 12-4 in the first round, including a 4-0 mark by the No. 3 seeds, but a No. 7 seed (College of the Ozarks (Mo.)) got to the championship game.

Twenty-one of the 32 squads that were in last year's field are back, including defending champion Saint Francis (Ind.), which has a No. 3 seed on the other side of the bracket.

About Robert Morris: The Eagles, based in Chicago, went 14-4 to place third in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, which has four teams in the championship field. They were bounced by Saint Francis in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament but landed the ninth and final at-large bid to the national tourney.

After notching 12 straight wins in the middle of the season, they went 4-3 in their last seven games with each loss against a ranked opponent. 

RMU is led by 5-foot-11 senior forward Yolanda De La Torre's 15.7 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. Sophomore guard Dana Gettis posts 16.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 steals but struggles from 3-point range, where the Eagles shoot just 25.6 percent as a team.

Their key to success is on the defensive end. They were third in the NAIA in steals (15.3), seventh in turnover margin (minus-6.2) and 10th in opponents' field-goal percentage (33.9).

"They'll give us a lot of looks – some full-court pressing back into matchup zone, some trapping and probably a little man-to-man," Kennedy said. "They're just a real quick, athletic team and they're good at turning defense into offense. When they get going, they're tough to beat, so getting off to a good start will be important for us."

About SOU: Before dropping a Cascade Conference semifinal game in the final seconds against Oregon Tech, 77-74, the Raiders played one month of untouchable basketball. In a nine-game win streak that led up to the loss, SOU's average margin of victory was 22.3 points.

That run led to a No. 8 ranking in the national coaches' poll. And even though the setback against OIT dropped them two spots, this is still the Raiders' highest ranking going into the tournament since they were the top overall seed in 1999.

SOU got into the tourney with the second of nine at-large bids.

The formula to success includes an ingredient that has been a mainstay in Kennedy's 10 years – a frenetic scoring pace, which this season has led to the second-best field-goal percentage in the nation (47.3) and the sixth-best nightly point total (84.1). But the Raiders have also made scoring tough on opponents; before OIT shot 43.8 percent from the field, nine straight foes had shot 36 percent or worse and only two eclipsed 40 all season.

The Raiders also rank No. 2 in the NAIA in rebounding margin (plus-12.7) and have yet to be out-rebounded this season.

Five individuals are scoring in double figures – Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) (13.9), Carly Meister (Elma, Wash./Elma) (11.8), Kristen Schoenherr (Rainier, Wash./Rainier) (11.0), Autumn Durand (Onalaska, Wash./Onalaska) (10.9) and Ashley Claussen (Scotts Valley, Calif./Santa Cruz) (10.5) – and Smith, Meister and Claussen were each named to the All-CCC team, while Schoenherr garnered honorable mention.

Smith, Meister and 6-4 freshman Courtney West (Sydney, Australia/Port Hacking) (9.3 points) combine for over 20 rebounds per game, and Claussen ranks 12th in the NAIA at 5.0 assists.

Tournament history: This is the third team Kennedy has guided into the tournament. The last one lost in the 2009 first round to Black Hills State (S.D.), 66-58. SOU's last win was in the 1999 first round against Husson (Me.), 81-60. The Raiders haven't gotten out of the second round since making the 1997 semifinals, and they'll be attempting to snap a four-game first-round losing streak.

Around the tournament: After earning an automatic bid for winning the CCC's regular-season title, Eastern Oregon received a No. 4 seed and will face Oklahoma Wesleyan at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday. Oregon Tech, which got in automatically for winning the CCC tournament, drew top-ranked Saint Xavier (Ill.) for a 6:45 p.m. Thursday matchup.

EOU and OIT went 0-2 as the CCC's representatives last year, but in 2013 EOU made a run to the quarterfinals and College of Idaho reached the second round.