1982 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 1982 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was the first women's basketball tournament held under the auspices of the NCAA. From 1972 to 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 State, 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 (and to date only) woman to win NCAA Division I basketball titles as a player and coach, winning the 2005, 2012, 2019 titles as head coach at Baylor and the 2023 title at LSU. (Mulkey was also an assistant coach on Louisiana Tech's 1988 championship team).

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 tournament 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 12 of 14 free throw attempts. , 12 made free throws, equaled twice since, remains the women's Final Four game record for most free throws.

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.

Bauman's 50-point performance qualified as one of the top 25 moments of NCAA tournament history as chronicled by ESPN and NCAA.com as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of NCAA women's basketball.

Qualifying teams Automatic bids Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in the 1982 NCAA tournament. Twelve conferences were eligible for an automatic bid. (Not all conference records are available for 1982.)

Automatic Bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regularseason Conference Seed Long Beach State Western Collegiate 1 Kentucky SEC 2 Maryland ACC 2 Memphis State MetroThe NCAA recognized a Metro Conference champion, although the league did not sponsor women's sports until the 1983–84 school year. 3 Drake Missouri ValleyThe NCAA recognized a MVC champion, although the league did not sponsor women's sports until the 1992–93 school year. The Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference, which began as a women's-only parallel to the MVC before evolving into today's Missouri Valley Football Conference and had Drake as a member throughout its history as a women's conference, was not founded until the 1982–83 school year. 4 Kansas State Big Eight 4 Ohio State Big Ten 5 Jackson State SWAC 7 Stanford Northern California 7 Howard MEACThe NCAA recognized a MEAC champion, although the league did not sponsor women's sports until the 1983–84 school year. 8 Kent State MAC 8 Saint Peter's MAAC 8

At-large bids Twenty additional teams were selected to complete the thirty-two invitations. (Not all conference records are available for 1982.)

At-large Bids Qualifying School Conference Record Seed; Regularseason Conference Louisiana Tech Independent 1 Old Dominion Independent 1 USC Western Collegiate 1 Cheyney State Independent 2 Tennessee SEC 2 North Carolina State ACC 3 Oregon Independent 3 South Carolina Independent 3 Arizona State Western Collegiate 4 Penn State Independent 4 Clemson ACC 5 Georgia SEC 5 Stephen F. Austin Independent 5 East Carolina Independent 6 Ole Miss SEC 6 Missouri Big Eight 6 Northwestern Big Ten 6 Auburn SEC 7 Illinois Big Ten 7 Tennessee Tech Ohio Valley Conference 8

Bids by conference Bids Conference Teams 8 Independent Cheyney, East Carolina, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion, Oregon, Penn St., South Carolina, Stephen F. Austin 5

SEC

Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee 3

Western Collegiate

Arizona St., Long Beach St., Southern California 3

Big Ten

Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio St. 3

ACC

Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina St. 2

Big 8

Kansas St., Missouri 1

SWAC

Jackson St. 1

Ohio Valley

Tennessee Tech 1

Northern California

Stanford 1

Missouri Valley

Drake 1

MEAC

Howard 1

MAC

Kent St. 1

Metro

Memphis 1

MAAC

St. Peter's

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:

RegionHostVenue City State East

Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University Fieldhouse

Norfolk

Virginia East

Cheyney State College

Cope Hall

Cheyney

Pennsylvania East

Kansas State University

Ahearn Field House

Manhattan

Kansas East

North Carolina State University

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh

North Carolina Mideast

University of Southern California

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

Los Angeles

California Mideast

Pennsylvania State University

Recreation Building (Rec Hall)

University Park

Pennsylvania Mideast

Memphis State University

MSU Fieldhouse (Elma Roane Fieldhouse )

Memphis

Tennessee Mideast

University of Tennessee

Stokely Athletic Center

Knoxville

Tennessee Midwest

Louisiana Tech University

Memorial Gym

Ruston

Louisiana Midwest

Arizona State University

University Activity Center (Wells Fargo Arena)

Tempe

Arizona Midwest

University of South Carolina

Carolina Coliseum

Columbia

South Carolina Midwest

University of Kentucky

Memorial Coliseum

Lexington

Kentucky West

California State University, Long Beach

University Gym (Gold Mine)

Long Beach

California West

Drake University

Drake Fieldhouse

Des Moines

Iowa West

University of Oregon

McArthur Court

Eugene

Oregon West

University of Maryland, College Park

Cole Field House

College Park

Maryland

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 18 to March 21 at these sites:

East Regional Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University) Mideast Regional Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee) Midwest Regional Memorial Gym, Ruston, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana Tech University) West Regional Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford University)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held March 26 and 28 in Norfolk, Virginia at the Norfolk Scope. Old Dominion University was the host institution.

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.

Bids State Teams 3California

Long Beach State, Stanford, Southern California 3Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee 2Illinois

Northwestern, Illinois 2Mississippi

Jackson State, Ole Miss 2North Carolina

North Carolina State, East Carolina 2Ohio

Ohio State, Kent State 2Pennsylvania

Cheyney, Penn State 2South Carolina

South Carolina, Clemson 1Alabama

Auburn 1Arizona

Arizona State 1District of Columbia

Howard 1Georgia

Georgia 1Iowa

Drake 1Kansas

Kansas State 1Kentucky

Kentucky 1Louisiana

Louisiana Tech 1Maryland

Maryland 1Missouri

Missouri 1New Jersey

Saint Peter's 1Oregon

Oregon 1Texas

Stephen F. Austin 1Virginia

Old Dominion

Brackets

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

Midwest Regional - Louisiana Tech - Ruston, LA (Memorial Gymnasium)

East Regional - North Carolina 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 %Roundof 32SweetSixteenEliteEightFinalFourChampionshipGame Independent

8

.632

5

5

2

2

2 Southeastern

5

.500

2

2

2

1

– Atlantic Coast

3

.571

2

2

1

1

– Western Collegiate

3

.571

3

3

1

–

– Big Ten

3

.000

–

–

–

–

– Big Eight

2

.600

2

2

1

–

– Missouri Valley

1

.667

1

1

1

–

– Metro

1

.500

1

1

–

–

–

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

All-Tournament Team

Janice Lawrence, Louisiana Tech Pam Kelly, Louisiana Tech Kim Mulkey, Louisiana Tech Yolanda Laney, Cheyney Valerie Walker, Cheyney

Game officials

David Sell (semifinal) Pete Stewart (semifinal) Marcy Weston (semifinal, final) Dan Woolridge (semifinal, final)

See also 1982 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament 1982 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament 1982 AIAW National Division I Basketball Championship 1982 NAIA women's basketball tournament 1982 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

References