The Brewton-Parker College Lady Barons received their third berth in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship in five years after qualifying as the runner-up in the conference postseason tournament.

The Lady Barons play Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) (32-10) on Thursday, March 17, at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time at Oman Arena in Jackson, Tenn. The 25th annual NAIA event runs through March 22.

The Lady Barons enter the 32-team national tournament with a school-record 32-3 mark and as the No. 14 ranked team following the release of the final ratings on March 8. They are seeded No. 4 in an eight-team bracket, whose No. 1 seed is Oklahoma City University, ranked third (28-5).

"We're really proud of the girls and of their accomplishments," said Brewton-Parker head coach Sheila Simmons, whose team surpassed last season's school record of 25 victories. "And we are still playing."

"We feel we were deserving of a No. 3 seed, but Azusa Pacific will be a good match-up for us. Plus, playing on Thursday gives us time to get a feel for the tournament and get up there and play hard."

Brewton-Parker secured its national tournament berth by making the championship game of the Southern States Athletic Conference postseason tournament, March 3-5 at Berry College in Mount Berry.

The Lady Barons entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, having compiled an 18-2 conference record after they lost their two meetings to North Georgia College and State University, which was also 18-2.

Brewton-Parker defeated Shorter College 77-58 and Reinhardt College 79-61 to earn a rematch against North Georgia in the championship game, where the Lady Saints prevailed again, 77-68. North Georgia (25-7) was ranked No. 9 in the final ratings.