1982 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament


The 1982 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament was the first Women's Basketball Tournament held under the auspices of the NCAA. From 1972–1982, there were national tournaments for Division I schools held under the auspices of the AIAW. The inaugural NCAA Tournament included 32 teams. Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Cheyney, and Maryland met in the Final Four, held at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia and hosted by Old Dominion University, with Louisiana Tech defeating Cheyney for the title, 76-62. Louisiana Tech's Janice Lawrence was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Her teammate Kim Mulkey went on to become the first woman to win NCAA Division I basketball titles as a player and coach, winning the 2005, 2012 and 2019 titles as head coach at Baylor.

Notable events

While the 1982 tournament was the first tournament under the NCAA, many of the participating teams had a long history of tournament experience. The Louisiana Tech team made it to the Final Four of the 1979, 1980 and 1981 AIAW Tournaments, winning the National Championship with a perfect 34–0 record in 1981. The Lady Techsters were favorites to repeat, as their team entered the 1982 NCAA tournaments with only a single loss on the season. The team included two Kodak All-Americans, Pam Kelly and Angela Turner. Pam Kelly would win the Wade Trophy, awarded to the nation's best Division I women's basketball player. Her teammates included Janice Lawrence and Kim Mulkey, both of whom would play on the gold-medal-winning Olympic team in 1984. The team had two head coaches. Sonja Hogg had been head coach of the team since its formation in 1974. Hogg brought Leon Barmore on to the coaching staff in 1977. In 1982, Barmore shared head coaching duties with Hogg, which he would do until 1985, when Hogg stepped down.
The Louisiana Tech team won their first game easily, beating Tennessee Tech 114–52. They easily won their next two games against Arizona State and Kentucky, to advance to the Final Four, the only number one seed to make it to the finals.
The Lady Techsters faced the Lady Vols from Tennessee in the semi-finals, and won 69–46. In the National Championship game, they faced Cheyney State, coached by future Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer. The Cheyney State team entered the match-up on a 23-game winning streak. The Louisiana Tech team hit 56% of their field goals attempts to win easily, 76–62, and win the first National Championship in the NCAA era.
The winners are awarded national championship rings, but this team did not receive theirs until January 13, 2017.

Records

In the semifinal game between Louisiana Tech and Tennessee, Louisiana Tech's Pam Kelly made twelve of fourteen free throw attempts. Twelve made free throws, equaled twice since, remains the Women's Final Four Game Record for "Most Free Throws" through the 2015 tournament.
In the west regional final between Drake and Maryland, Lorri Bauman scored 50 points in a losing effort. Her scoring mark is still the single game record for an NCAA Tournament game. Her 21 made field goals, out of 35 attempts, both of which remain as single game tournament records. In the first-round game against Ohio State, Bauman hit all 16 of her free throws. While several players have subsequently made all of their attempted free throws, no one has a perfect record with more than 16.
In the three games of her tournament, Bauman scored a total of 110 points, for an average of 36.7 points per game. No player has surpassed that per game scoring mark, through 2012.
Bauman's 50 point performance qualified as one of the top 25 moments of NCAA Tournament history as chronicled by ESPN and the NCAA.com as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of NCAA women's basketball.

Qualifying teams - automatic

Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in the 1982 NCAA Tournament. Twelve conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1982 NCAA tournament.

Qualifying teams - at-large

Twenty additional teams were selected to complete the thirty-two invitations.

Bids by conference

First round

The thirty-two teams were seeded, and assigned to sixteen locations. In each case, the higher seed was given the opportunity to host the first-round game, and all sixteen teams hosted.
The following table lists the region, host school, venue and location, while a map of the locations is shown to the right:
RegionHostVenueCityState
EastOld Dominion UniversityOld Dominion University FieldhouseNorfolkVirginia
EastCheyney State CollegeCope HallCheyneyPennsylvania
EastKansas State UniversityAhearn Field HouseManhattanKansas
EastNorth Carolina State UniversityReynolds ColiseumRaleighNorth Carolina
MideastUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaLos AngelesCalifornia
MideastPennsylvania State UniversityRecreation Building University ParkPennsylvania
MideastMemphis State UniversityMSU Fieldhouse MemphisTennessee
MideastUniversity of TennesseeStokely Athletic CenterKnoxvilleTennessee
MidwestLouisiana Tech UniversityMemorial GymRustonLouisiana
MidwestArizona State UniversityUniversity Activity Center TempeArizona
MidwestUniversity of South CarolinaCarolina ColiseumColumbiaSouth Carolina
MidwestUniversity of KentuckyMemorial ColiseumLexingtonKentucky
WestCalifornia State University, Long BeachUniversity Gym Long BeachCalifornia
WestDrake UniversityDrake FieldhouseDes MoinesIowa
WestUniversity of OregonMcArthur CourtEugeneOregon
WestUniversity of Maryland, College ParkCole Field HouseCollege ParkMaryland

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 18 to March 21 at these sites:
Each regional winner will advance to the Final Four, held March 26 and 28 in Norfolk, Virginia at the Norfolk Scope.

Bids by state

The thirty-two teams came from twenty-one states, plus Washington, D.C.
California and Tennessee had the most teams with three each. Twenty-nine states did not have any teams receiving bids.
BidsStateTeams
3CaliforniaLong Beach St., Stanford, Southern California
3TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee
2IllinoisNorthwestern, Illinois
2MississippiJackson St., Ole Miss
2North CarolinaNorth Carolina St., East Carolina
2OhioOhio St., Kent St.
2PennsylvaniaCheyney, Penn St.
2South CarolinaSouth Carolina, Clemson
1AlabamaAuburn
1ArizonaArizona St.
1District of ColumbiaHoward
1GeorgiaGeorgia
1IowaDrake
1KansasKansas St.
1KentuckyKentucky
1LouisianaLouisiana Tech
1MarylandMaryland
1MissouriMissouri
1New JerseySt. Peter's
1OregonOregon
1TexasStephen F. Austin
1VirginiaOld Dominion

Brackets

Mideast Regional - University of Tennessee - Knoxville, TN ([Stokely Athletic Center])

Midwest Regional - Louisiana Tech - Ruston, LA (Memorial Gymnasium">Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball#Memorial Gymnasium">Memorial Gymnasium)

East Regional - N.C. State - Raleigh, NC ([Reynolds Coliseum])

West Regional - Stanford University - Palo Alto, CA ([Maples Pavilion])

Final Four - Old Dominion - Norfolk, VA

Record by conference

Eight conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play:
Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Round
of 32		Sweet
Sixteen		Elite
Eight		Final
Four		Championship
Game
Independent8.63255222
Southeastern5.5002221–
Atlantic Coast3.5712211–
Western Collegiate3.571331––
Big Ten3––––––
Big Eight2.600221––
Missouri Valley1.667111––
Metro1.50011–––

Six conferences went 0-1: MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Northern California, Ohio Valley Conference, and SWAC

All-Tournament Team