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

• NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship
• NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship
• NAIA Women's Basketball Championships

Footnotes

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

References

1. Wooley's jump shot proves to be game-winner - Women's College Basketball - ESPN
2. Lady Quakers win first national title - Women's College Basketball - ESPN
3. Ippel leads Millikin with 25 points - Women's College Basketball - ESPN
4. George Fox earns first NCAA Division III title - ESPN
5. Washington University wins fifth Division III title since 1998 - ESPN
6. Amherst College women lose consolation - Boston Colleges Blog - ESPN Boston
7. Bates, Greg (March 22, 2014). "Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham wins NCAA Division 3 women's national championship". Retrieved 2 Apr 2014.
8. "D3 team has to vacate a title because Randy Moss' daughter stayed with a coach while recovering from injury". SBNation. Vox Media. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
9. "Thomas More College vs. George Fox U. | Box Score | 3/21/2015 - D3hoops". www.d3hoops.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
10. "Women's basketball championship play dates decided" (Press release). NCAA. December 15, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
11. "Thomas More caps off second-straight undefeated season with second-straight title". NCAA.com. Retrieved 2016-04-06.

External links

• NCAA Women's Basketball History, retrieved on April 17, 2008.