Lady Owls prove they aren't "flash in the pan'

Making fifth straight tournament appearance, William Woods plays MidAmerica Nazarene tonight

Dan Chapla wasn't sweating his team's postseason prospects after the William Woods University Lady Owls fell at Columbia College 91-83 in the American Midwest Conference postseason tournament championship on March 4.

Neither was his team, for that matter.

NAIA national tournament bids tend to go to teams firmly entrenched in the top 25 and William Woods sat at No. 22 in the most recent poll, with all six of the Lady Owls' losses coming against tournament qualifiers.

Still, more than anything, Chapla has built the William Woods program into a known quantity with five straight appearances in the NAIA national tournament.

The Lady Owls (25-6) open play in the 33rd-annual NAIA Division I women's national tournament as a No. 6 seed against No. 3 MidAmerica (Kan.) Nazarene (30-2) in the first round at 8:45 tonight in Frankfort, Ky.