NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship

NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship
Sport College basketball
Founded 1982
No. of teams 64
Country NCAA Division III (U.S.)
Most recent
champion(s)
Thomas More
Official website NCAA.com

The NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship is the annual tournament to determine the national champions of women's NCAA Division III collegiate basketball in the United States. It has been held annually since 1982, when the NCAA began to sponsor women's sports at all three levels.

Washington–St. Louis are the most successful program, with five national titles. The current champions are Thomas More, who won their second consecutive national title in 2016.

History

1982 Final Four

Held in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, the 1982 Women's Final Four Basketball Tournament was the first sponsored by the NCAA. Featuring host Elizabethtown College, Clark College (Massachusetts), Pomona College (California) and the University of North Carolina Greensboro (North Carolina), the tournament was played in a classic field house over a three-day period. In the first game of the National Semi-Final, Elizabethtown took control right from the tip-off against Clark College and easily cruised to a 71-51 victory. In the second game of the Final Four, Pomona College took the lead early in the game but North Carolina Greensboro battled back to tie the game at 56 with six minutes to play. Greensboro then went on a run and pulled away for a 77-66 win. Elizabethtown and Greensboro turned the championship game into an epic battle of lead changes and shifts in momentum. Last second heroics by Greensboro sent the game into overtime, but Elizabethtown came up with the final stop in overtime to win 67-66 in overtime. Television coverage was provided by a fledgling ESPN while exclusive radio coverage was provided by KSPC Radio - Pomona College's tiny KSPC sports broadcasting group with Geoff Willis (Pomona College '83) and James Timmerman (Pomona College '82) providing the play by play and color. ESPN was so embryonic that the game was broadcast multiple times during the following two weeks and ESPN hired the KSPC Radio staff to help with background and color research about the players and the teams.

Results

NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship
Year Finals Site Arena Championship
Champion Score Runner-up
1982
Details
Elizabethtown, PA Thompson Gymnasium Elizabethtown 67–66
(OT)
UNC Greensboro
1983
Details
Worcester, MA Kneller Athletics Center North Central (IL) 83–71 Elizabethtown
1984
Details
Scranton, PA John Long Center Rust 51–49 Elizabethtown
1985
Details
De Pere, WI Schuldes Sports Center Scranton 68–59 New Rochelle
1986
Details
Salem, MA Twohig Gymnasium Salem State 89–85 Bishop (TX)
1987
Details
Scranton, PA John Long Center UW–Stevens Point 81–74 Concordia–Moorhead
1988
Details
Moorhead, MN Memorial Auditorium Concordia–Moorhead 65–57 St. John Fisher
1989
Details
Danville, KY Alumni Gymnasium Elizabethtown 66–65 Cal State Stanislaus
1990
Details
Holland, MI Dow Center Hope 65–63 St. John Fisher
1991
Details
St. Paul, MN Schoenecker Arena St. Thomas (MN) 73–55 Muskingum
1992
Details
Bethlehem, PA Johnston Hall Alma 79–75 Moravian
1993
Details
Pella, IA Kuyper Gymnasium Central (IA) 71–63 Capital
1994
Details
Eau Claire, WI W.L. Zorn Arena Capital 82–63 Washington (MO)
1995
Details
Columbus, OH Alumni Gymnasium Capital 59–55 UW–Oshkosh
1996
Details
Oshkosh, WI Albee Hall UW–Oshkosh 66–50 Mount Union
1997
Details
New York City, NY Coles Sports Center NYU 72–70 UW–Eau Claire
1998
Details
Gorham, ME Warren Hill Gymnasium Washington (MO) 77–69 Southern Maine
1999
Details
Danbury, CT Stephen Feldman Arena Washington (MO) 74–65 St. Benedict
2000
Details
Washington (MO) 79–33 Southern Maine
2001
Details
Washington (MO) 67–45 Messiah
2002
Details
Terre Haute, IN Hulbert Arena UW–Stevens Point 67–65 St. Lawrence
2003
Details
Trinity (TX) 60–58[1] Eastern Connecticut State
2004
Details
Norfolk, VA Jane P. Batten Student Center Wilmington (OH) 59–53[2] Bowdoin
2005
Details
Millikin 70–50[3] Randolph–Macon
2006
Details
Springfield, MA Springfield Civic Center Hope 69–56 Southern Maine
2007
Details
DePauw 55–52 Washington (MO)
2008
Details
Holland, MI Holland Civic Center Howard Payne 68–54 Messiah
2009
Details
George Fox 60–53[4] Washington (MO)
2010
Details
Bloomington, IL Shirk Center Washington (MO) 65–59[5] Hope
2011
Details
Amherst 64–55 Washington (MO)
2012
Details
Holland, MI DeVos Fieldhouse Illinois Wesleyan 57–48[6] George Fox
2013
Details
DePauw 69-51 UW–Whitewater
2014
Details
Gorham, ME Warren Hill Gymnasium FDU–Florham 80-72[7] Whitman
2015
Details
Grand Rapids, MI Van Noord Arena Thomas More (vacated)[8] 83-63[9] George Fox
2016
Details
Indianapolis, IN[n 1] Bankers Life Fieldhouse[n 1] Thomas More 63-51[11] Tufts
2017
Details
Grand Rapids, MI Van Noord Arena
2018
Details
Rochester, MN Mayo Civic Center

Championships

School Titles Years
Washington (MO) 5 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2010
Thomas More^ 2 2015, 2016
DePauw 2 2007, 2013
Hope 2 1990, 2006
Wisconsin-Stevens Point 2 1987, 2002
Capital 2 1994, 1995
Elizabethtown 2 1982, 1989
Farleigh Dickinson-Florham 1 2014
Illinois Wesleyan 1 2012
Amherst 1 2011
George Fox 1 2009
Howard Payne 1 2008
Millikin 1 2005
Wilmington (OH) 1 2004
Trinity (TX) 1 2003
NYU 1 1997
Wisconsin–Oshkosh 1 1996
Central (IA) 1 1993
Alma 1 1992
St. Thomas (MN) 1 1991
Concordia (Moorhead) 1 1988
Salem State 1 1986
Scranton 1 1985
Rust 1 1984
North Central 1 1983

^ 2015 championship vacated by Thomas More

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Only the final game was held in Indianapolis. The semifinals were held at Performance Arena at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.[10]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.