BILLINGS, Mont. – The sixth-seeded University of Pikeville women's basketball team opens play in the 2017 NAIA National Championship at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday against Lyon (Ark.) in Rimrock Auto Arena.

For those not in Montana, there are numerous ways to follow the action. NAIANetwork.com will have a live stream of the game on a pay-per-view basis ($9.95 game/$29.95 tournament pass) and there will be free, live audio on UPIKE Athletics' YouTube page which is also embedded in this preview.

There will also be live stats on the NAIA DakStats site and numerous updates on the @UPIKEAthletics Twitter account.

UPIKE faced six teams that are included in the tournament field, finishing 2-7 against those, including two each against Mid-South Conference foes Campbellsville (Ky.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Shawnee State (Ohio). But, the Bears swept every team beneath them in the league standings to finish 21-20 overall and 8-6 in the MSC and earn their third straight trip to the national tournament.

The Bears have a 3-4 record in the event, capturing all three of the wins last season during their first trip to the NAIA Fab Four. This is the third straight season that UPIKE has been a No. 6 seed.

Lyon (27-5) is making its sixth straight national tournament appearance where it will face UPIKE for the first time. Last season, the Fighting Scots won one game before bowing out to Great Falls in the second round. Lyon earned its bid by finishing as the American Midwest Conference Tournament runner-up, while UPIKE made the field as an at-large selection.

Senior Kiara Moore is the player to watch for the Scots, pouring in 13.6 points while swiping 2.1 steals per contest. Senior Elliot Taylor controls the post, hauling in a team-best 5.1 rebounds while blocking 21 shots on the season.

Lyon is the sixth-best shooting team in the nation at 45.1 percent while getting an NAIA-third best 45.6 percent showing by Ali Tucker from 3-point range, Tucker has knocked down 72 3s this season.

A win on Thursday morning would put the Bears against either No. 2-seed Westmont (Calif.) or No. 7-seed LSU-Schreveport at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

-UPIKE-