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Lady Wildcats Back in Nationals

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BILLINGS, MT — The 39th annual NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, presented by Visit Billings is being held at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in Billings, Mont., March 13 – 19.
The Bethel Lady Wildcats are seeded No. 4 in the Naismith Bracket and will face No. 5 seeded Lindsey Wilson at 9:30 a. m. CDT Wednesday morning.  Bethel (28-5) earned an automatic bid after winning the Southern States Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship.  LWC received an at-large bid after finishing 22-10. The Blue Raiders compete in the Mid-South Conference.  Bethel beat Lindsey Wilson 53-51 on November 9 in the MSC/SSAC Challenge at Crisp Arena in McKenzie.
Bethel & LWC in the NAIA Championship: The Lady Wildcats will make their seventh straight and tenth all-time appearance in the national tournament. The Wildcats advanced to the Elite Eight four seasons ago in the Championship, before falling to eventual runner-up Campbellsville. It was Bethel’s second straight Elite Eight appearance. They fell to Freed-Hardeman the previous season. Three years ago Bethel, a No. 1 seed bowed out in round one after a 56-51 loss to Cumberland University. Two seasons ago the Lady Wildcats lost in the Sweet Sixteen to eventual runner –up Lewis Clark State. Bethel fell to Vanguard in the first round last year. The Lady Cats are 7-9 all-time in the national tournament.
Lindsey Wilson is making its 14th appearance in the national tournament and its fifth straight. The Blue Raiders own an 8-13 all-time record in the national tournament. Lindsey Wilson is located in Columbia, Kentucky.

The winner of the Lindsey Wilson-Bethel game advances to face the winner of No. 1-seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and eighth-seeded Dillard (Louisiana) on Friday, March 15 at 10 a.m. CT.
Coaches: Chris Nelson is in his 13th season at the helm of the Lady Cats and has a 288-137 mark. He is currently 18th in all-time wins at the NAIA level.  His teams have hit at least one three-pointer in each of his 425 games. He has led the program to ten national tournament appearances which include two Elite Eights and three Sweet Sixteen appearances. He is the all-time wins leader in Lady Wildcat history. His 2014-15 squad finished with the best record in program history at 32-4. For the second straight year Bethel worked their way into an Elite Eight finish that season. The Lady Cats had a 24-game winning streak during the year, which is the longest in program history. They ran the table in the SSAC regular season with a perfect 18 game winning mark capturing the SSAC title. Coach Nelson is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors and is currently the NAIA Director. 
John B. Wethington is in his 30th season as the head coach of the Lindsey Wilson women’s basketball program. He ranks No. 3 on the NAIA’s active all-time wins list with 607 career victories.
Series: The game marks the seventh meeting between the two programs with Bethel owning a 5-1 advantage in the series.
Common Opponents: Both teams lost to Murray State in exhibition play. Bethel lost to the Racers 86-50 while MSU beat LWC 72-51. Both squads beat Brescia but both teams lost to Talladega. Cumberland University lost to Lindsey Wilson twice while the Phoenix fell to Bethel 69-60. Both teams beat Hiwassee. LWC beat Martin Methodist while Bethel split with the RedHawks on the year.