By Ron Smith
March 13, 2021
 
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) The NAIA Women's Basketball Final Site bracket has been released and Westmont Women's Basketball (11-1) will face off with the Fighting Scotts of Lyon (Ark.) in the Round of 16. The Scotts earned a trip to Sioux City, Iowa, by upsetting #11 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) by a score of 60-57 in the finals of the Alexandria (La.) Bracket "B" Opening Round Tournament.
 
Westmont, the tournament's number two seed, and Lyon, the number 15 seed, will match up on Thursday, March 18 at 6:00 p.m. CDT (4:00 p.m. PDT). The winner will advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday to take on the Clarke (Iowa) and MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) winner.
 
The Warriors and Scotts have met three times previously, all in national tournament play. The last time they met was in the 2017 Championship in Billings. Montana with Westmont prevailing 65-53. Westmont also won during the 2015 Tournament held in Independence, Missouri, defeating the Scotts 74-63. The first meeting was in Frankfort, Kentucky during the 2012 Championship, which the Warriors won 59-57.
 
The Scotts are coached by Tracy Stewart-Lange who took over the reins at Lyon the same year Kirsten Moore became the head coach at Westmont. Stewart-Lange has a record of 339-160 at Lyon and has led her team to 10 consecutive NAIA National Championship appearances.
 
Lyon is led in scoring by 5-7 junior guard Jade Giron who is averaging 19.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. Giron was named both the American Midwest Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Freshman forward Paige Kelley (5-11) is averaging 16.0 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
 
The Fighting Scotts finished first in the AMC standings with a league mark of 10-1. They also won the AMC Conference Tournament.
 
Westmont advanced to the final site with a 97-62 victory over Montana Western in which the Warriors set a new 3-point field goal record by draining 21 of 44 attempts.
 
The Warriors have qualified for the National Championship 16 times including the last 11 years. Westmont, which has a record of 18-13 in national tournament play, won the national tournament in 2013 and was runner-up in 2018.