KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Montana Tech women's basketball team is NAIA tournament bound for the first time since 2011!

The Orediggers earned an at-large bid and a No. 13 seed in the bracket, the national office announced Thursday evening during a selection show live on NAIA.org. It will be the third time in program history that Tech earned a national bid.

The Orediggers will be headed to Madison, S.D., and will take on host and No. 4-seeded Dakota State in first-round action Friday, March 14 at 4:30 p.m. Mountain time. Fifth-seeded Governors State and No. 12 seed Arizona Christian make up the other half of the four-team pod and will play at 7. Winners will play for a trip to Sioux City, Iowa and the Round of 16 Saturday, March 15 at 5 p.m.

Montana Tech carries an 18-11 record into national-tournament play and received votes in the final regular-season coaches' poll of the season. The Orediggers join conference champion and No. 21-ranked Providence, Rocky Mountain, and Carroll as the Frontier Conference's representation in the 64-team field.

It's just the third national bid in Montana Tech women's basketball history and the first since the Diggers made back-to-back appearances in 2010 and 2011. Tech is still in search of its first-ever NAIA national-tournament victory.

Visit Montana Tech athletics' home online, GoDiggers.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news and coverage of the Orediggers. Give Montana Tech athletics a like on Facebook, and follow the Orediggers on X and Instagram at @DiggerAthletics.