KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Bracket) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 32 qualifiers and bracket for the 40th annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by Visit Billings. The event returns to First Interstate Arena at Metra Park in Billings, Mont., March 18-24.

This year's field consists of 14 automatic berths, 17 at-large selections and one host berth that Rocky Mountain (Mont.) will claim. Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, 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 today, which can be found HERE. Note: Ties in the final regular-season poll were broken by a tie break procedure set by the National Administrative Council (NA)
 
The Cougars notched a fourth seed, and will come into the game after finishing the regular season going 20-4 in conference play. As a team, Columbia ranks in the top 10 nationally in several categories including sixth for 3-point field goal percentage (0.370). Seventh in total rebound margin (8.156), eighth in free throw percentage (0.756) and ninth in field goal percentage defense (0.355). Also, 10^th in total, total rebound offense (1347). The Cougars are also ranked in the top 50 in 18 other categories. 
 
Carroll College was selected as the fifth seed, and go into the game after finishing the regular season going 13-5 in conference play. Carroll ranks top 10 in two categories, third in total rebound defense (30.226)and ninth in scoring defense per game (57.226). They also rank top 50 in 14 other categories. 
 
The Cougars are in the Liston Bracket and will take on the Carroll (Mont.) Fighting Saints in the first round on Thursday, March 19^th at 6:15p.m. MT. This will be the 16^th appearance for Columbia in the National Championships and the third straight time under head coach Taylor Possail.
 
The NAIA Network – the association's official video streaming home – will broadcast the first 30 games leading up to the championship final on ESPN3. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day and all-tournament packages are available. NAIA Network can be accessed HERE.

For more information on the 2019-20 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, CLICK HERE.