GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A trucker driving north on Highway 200 in western Montana passed two white SUVs and a navy blue minivan on the side of the road. If the driving looked closely he would have seen a group of young women gathered around a laptop placed on the hood of the first SUV. If he waited, he would have seen them cheering and clapping. 

That group was the Lady Argo basketball team and the laptop was streaming the 2016 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Selection Show. That was how UGF learned that they are a 5-seed in the NAIA Championship tournament and will face 4-seed Central Methodist (Mo.) at 11:30 p.m. MST on Thursday, March 17.

(14) Central Methodist (26-4) qualified for the tournament as the regular-season champion of the Heart of America Athletic Conference, while the (20) Lady Argos (22-10) enter as the tournament's No. 9 at-large bid.

Both teams will be playing in their second NAIA tournament, with UGF returning after their Elite Eight run last season, and CMU makes it back after an appearance in 2013. CMU lost in the first round of that 2013 appearance.

The two teams shared one common opponent during the 2015-16 season. The Lady Argos beat Northern New Mexico College 70-56 in Great Falls on Dec. 13. Five days later the Eagles defeated NNMC 74-68 on a neutral floor.

The winner of the game will move on to play the winner of 1-seed Lyon (Ark.) and 8-seed LSU Shreveport (La.). Lyon (29-3) is the third ranked team in the nation and top seed in the "Liston Bracket" of the tournament.

UGF's conference, the Frontier Conference, tied for the second most members to qualify for the NAIA Championship with four teams making the tournament. The Lady Argos are joined by conference champion Lewis-Clark State College, along with Carroll College and MSU-Northern.

The tournament will be held in Independence, Mo., on March 16-22.

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