OMAHA, Neb. – The University of Providence women's basketball team will begin their championship aspirations Friday afternoon with a game against The Cumberlands on Friday at 4 p.m. MTN.

"This is exciting," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "This is what you play for all year long. You want to give yourself an opportunity to play at this time of the year. You want to have a chance to get in there and see what you can do."

This year is the first year that all NAIA basketball teams are playing in the same tournament; in previous years, there were two divisions with two separate tournaments. This year the tournament features 48 teams, with 16, three-team "pods" scattered throughout the country. Each pod's #3 seed will take on the #2 seed on Friday, with the winner advancing to play the #1 seed on Saturday. The winner of that game will advance to the Sweet 16, which will take place the following week in Sioux City, IA.

After losing to Montana Western in the semifinals of the Frontier Conference Playoffs, the Argos (9-5, 9-4) had to sweat out five agonizing days as a bubble team, not knowing if they were going to qualify for the National Tournament or not. When the brackets were finally revealed, the Argos were awarded a trip to Omaha, Neb. as a #3 seed against the #2 Cumberlands. The winner will take on #1 seed Dakota State on Saturday. 

"Our girls are excited to be here," Himmelberg said. "We're ready to get going. We like our matchups. We think they're going to be really good games against tough competition. That's what we want to see, we want to see the best. We're excited to get on the court and see what we can do."

The Argos have spent the last 11 days practicing, having last played a competitive game on Feb. 27. The coaching staff spent the time before the National Tournament working on themselves, and have since transitioned into more preparation for the Patriots (14-5, 10-4).

"We feel pretty good about knowing what they're going to run and how they're going to defend us," Himmelberg said. "We just haven't had this much time to prepare this year. For the girls this is a lot of preparation. To have a week to prepare is a luxury."

The Patriots are led by point guard Silvia Veloso, who averaged 12.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists. She's also active defensively, as she was named the Defensive Player of the Year in the Mid-South Conference. Vilma Covane is also a threat for Cumberlands, averaging 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds a game.

"Veloso is a real good point guard who can handle the ball and get to the rim," Himmelberg said. "She's pretty quick. That's going to be a good matchup for Emilee. They got two good post players who are going to be a challenge for our posts. They match up a lot like us. They like to get to the rim, get to the free throw line and pound it inside to their posts."

As much as a challenge the Patriots present, they must also guard the Argos. They'll have to try to contain the two-headed monster of Emilee Maldonado and Parker Esary. Maldonado, the Frontier Conference Player of the Year, averaged 17.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game while Esary, named 1^st Team All-Conference, averages 14.1 points and 9.0 rebounds a game.

Though they're a team that barely sneaked in, Himmelberg believes that no team wants to face the Argos right now. The Argos, who won three road games in the Frontier Conference Playoffs to clinch the conference championship a year ago, tend to get hot this time of the year.

"If we get rolling like we did last year, anything can happen," Himmelberg said. "We could go all the way and make it to the championship there's no question about it. We just have to be clicking and have everything go on all cylinders. We have the people to do it."