•  Siloam Springs bracket information
•  PDF of 64-team tournament bracket
•  NAIA's story about the tournament field

        NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana is a No. 14 seed in the 2024 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Opening Round presented by Ballogy, and the Gold Nuggets will play host and No. 3 seed John Brown at 6 p.m. CDT March 15 in Siloam Springs, Ark.
        Siloam Springs is in northwest Arkansas and approximately 650 miles from XULA.
        XULA earned the Red River Athletic Conference's second of two automatic bids based on its position in the Southwest ARC (Area Ranking Committee). RRAC regular-season and tournament champion LSU-Shreveport earned the league's other bid.
        John Brown's Golden Eagles are 28-3 and ranked 13th in the final NAIA coaches poll Feb. 28. JBU won the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships.
        No. 6 seed/16th-ranked Indiana Tech (28-3) and No. 11 St. Thomas (Fla.) (21-8) will meet in the other first-round game in Siloam Springs, and that winner will play the XULA-John Brown winner at 4 p.m. March 16 for the right to advance to the NAIA National Championship final site presented by Bomgaars March 21-26 at Sioux City, Iowa.
        About the XULA Gold Nuggets:
        •  25-6 overall . . . the Gold Nuggets' winningest team in 12 seasons (26-9 in 2011-12)
        •  19-3 RRAC (tied for second place)
        •  RRAC Tournament runner-up
        •  Gold Nuggets will enter nationals with 14 wins in their last 16 games
        •  No points in the final NAIA poll
        •  NAIA nationals history:
        —  first appearance since 2022
        —  third appearance in the last four seasons
        —  23rd appearance in the last 30 seasons
        —  18th appearance in Bo Browder's 25 seasons as head coach
        —  9-22 in 22 appearances and never won more than one game at nationals
        —  Only victory at nationals in the previous nine seasons (four appearances) was in 2021
        •  Head coach Bo Browder:
        —  562-233 (.707) in his 25th season as XULA's head coach
        —  His XULA teams averaged 22.5 victories per season
        —  No. 3 in career victories among Louisiana women's college basketball coaches, trailing Tulane's Lisa Stockton (589-343 in 30th season) and Louisiana Tech's Leon Barmore (retired, 576-87 in 20 seasons)
        —  Holds school record for most seasons by a head coach in any XULA sport . . . 2023-24 is his 25th season
        •  XULA in 2023-24 NAIA statistical rankings out of 228 teams:
        —  No. 2 in 3-point field-goal percentage defense at .233
        —  No. 3 with 13.7 steals per game
        —  No. 3 in field-goal percentage defense at .325
        —  No. 6 in scoring defense with 53.6 points allowed per game
        —  No. 9 with 23.3 free-throw attempts per game
        —  No. 18 with 15.5 offensive rebounds per game
        •  XULA player notes:
        —  Taylor Dewitt (5-11 guard/forward, graduate student, Mansfield, La.) was first-team All-Red River and leads the team with 12.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game . . . this is Dewitt's only season at XULA after transferring from city rival Dillard
        —  Jaleah LaFargue (5-11 senior guard/forward, Paulina, La.) was second-team All-Red River and produced her best XULA season, averaging 5.7 points and a team-leading 2.7 assists and two steals per game
        —  Shylia McGee (5-8 senior guard forward, Biloxi, Miss.) was second-team All-Red River and second on the team with 8.2 points per game (10.1 in Red River games) . . . she leads the team with 37 made 3-pointers
        —  Zaria Harleaux (6-1 senior guard/forward, Baton Rouge, La.) was second-team All-Red River . . . a transfer from NCAA Division I Mississippi Valley, Harleaux averages 7.7 points and is second on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game . . . Harleaux's 17 blocked shots lead the team