Complete Bracket | Final Top 25 Poll | Qualifiers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Southern Oregon University women's basketball team will be in Sioux City, Iowa, for the fourth consecutive season to greet a newcomer in the 27th annual NAIA Division II Tournament when play begins March 7 at the Tyson Events Center.

The Raiders (27-4 overall) were ranked No. 10 in the final coaches' poll received a No. 3 seed for the second year in a row, this time in the Naismith quadrant of the 32-team bracket that was announced Wednesday afternoon. They drew 24th-ranked Antelope Valley (Calif.) (22-6), the Cal Pac Conference champion and No. 6 seed in the quadrant, for a first-round game that will tip off at 7:15 Pacific Time next Wednesday.

Antelope Valley introduced women's basketball as its ninth athletic program just two years ago and attained immediate success. The Pioneers won the Cal Pac regular-season title in 2016-17, then earned their first national tournament bid this season by winning both the Cal Pac's regular-season and tournament titles.

Top-ranked Southeastern (Fla.) (29-0) is the No. 1 seed in the Naismith quadrant. But if the Raiders get past Antelope Valley, they'd first have to go through either No. 7 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) (27-2) or Indiana East (22-10) in the second round on March 9 at 11:45 a.m. PST.

No. 2 Concordia (Neb.) (32-1), No. 3 College of the Ozarks (Mo.) (30-1) and No. 4 Saint Xavier (Ill.) (29-2) received the other top seeds.

SOU earned one of the Cascade Conference's two automatic bids by finishing second in the regular season and advancing to the CCC tournament championship. The Raiders will be making their 11th overall appearance in the tournament and are 5-5 in first-round games. Last year, coming off a title-game appearance in 2016, they lost in the first round to No. 24 Northwestern (Iowa), 83-68.

Also representing the CCC, No. 6 Eastern Oregon got the No. 2 seed in the Duer quadrant and will start with No. 25 Reinhardt (Ga.) on March 8. Northwest Christian took an at-large bid with its No. 18 ranking, and as the No. 5 seed in the Liston quadrant will face No. 15 Taylor (Ind.) on March 7.

Antelope Valley enters the tournament on a 10-game winning streak and has one opponent in common with SOU: UC Merced, which the Pioneers defeated for the third time this season in the Cal Pac championship game. The Raiders topped Merced, 76-64, in their season opener.

On paper, the teams have similar strengths: SOU ranks second nationally and the Pioneers fourth in turnover margin, while the Pioneers rank second nationally and SOU third in offensive rebounding.

A complete preview will be published next week.