TMU Women's Basketball set to compete at final site

Second-seeded TMU Women's Basketball continues its quest for a national title on Friday, when Master's will take on third-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University in the Round of 16 of the NAIA National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa.
 
The Mustangs and Wildcasts hosted and won their respective Opening Round tournaments, with Master's advancing from the Newhall Bracket and the Wildcats winning the Marion Bracket, both in the Cramer Quadrant of the initial 64-team field.
 
TMU defeated 15th-seeded UC Merced in its opening game of the national tournament, 63-41, before surging past 10th-seeded Southern Oregon University, 66-53, in the Round of 32.
 
IWU beat 14th-seeded IU South Bend (Ind.), 65-64, and 11th-seeded Midway (Ky.), 86-50, in consecutive games to book its ticket to the final site at the Tyson Events Center.
 
The Wildcats finished second in the Crossroads League regular season standings before claiming the tournament championship with a 66-63 victory over Marian (Ind.), who earned a No. 2 seed in the national tournament.
 
The matchup between Master's and Indiana Wesleyan is the last scheduled Round of 16 matchup, with tip-off set for 6 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. CDT on Friday.

TMU is hoping to reach the quarterfinals for the third time in program history after last doing so in 2018-19. The Mustangs' furthest-tournament run was in 2006 when Master's reached the national semifinals.
 
The winner will advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday, also at 6 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. CDT, against either No. 1 seed Campbellsville University (Ky.) or No. 5 seed Dordt University (Iowa).
 
The Cramer Quadrant champion will claim a spot in Monday's semifinals with a berth in Tuesday's national championship game on the line.
 
All Round of 16 and quarterfinal games will be broadcast on the NAIA Network, before the semifinal and championship games will be streamed on ESPN3.