INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- The NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Committee announced the field of 64 teams for the 2023 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship, with North Atlantic Conference champion Maine Maritime Academy bracketed to face host Babson College in a first round matchup.

Maine Maritime (22-6) will battle the 11th-ranked Babson Beavers (23-5) on Friday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Staake Gymnasium. The Beavers lost to No. 4 Smith College in the championship game of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women’s Basketball Tournament.

The other game in the Babson pod pits Gettysburg College (21-6) against SUNY New Paltz (23-4). The Bullets won the Centennial Conference championship after knocking off Johns Hopkins University, while the New Paltz received an at-large berth after falling to SUNY Cortland in the SUNYAC Women’s Basketball Tournament final.

Forty-four conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the championship, with one team receiving a Pool B berth and the remaining 19 teams earning Pool C (at large) qualifiers.

All tournament games leading up to the national semifinals will be played on the campuses of the competing institutions. Sixteen sites will host four teams for first-and second-round competition on Friday, March 3, and Saturday, March 4.  

Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectionals, played on campus sites on March 10-11, 2023. The national semifinals will be played on Saturday, March 18, at Oosting Gymnasium in Hartford, Connecticut, hosted by Trinity College.

The national championship game will be played on Saturday, April 1, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, in conjunction with the Women’s Final Four. The Division III championship will tip-off at 11:00 a.m., followed by the Division II title game at 2:30 p.m.