The 2021 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament was the 39th annual tournament hosted by the NCAA to determine the national champion of Division II women's collegiate basketball in the United States.
The Elite Eight was held at Alumni Hall at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio from March 23–26, 2021.
Defending champions Lubbock Christian defeated Drury in the championship game, 69–59, to claim the Lady Chaps' third overall and second consecutive national title. Lubbock Christian additionally finished the season undefeated (23-0).
Qualification A total of 48 bids were available for the tournament: 16 automatic (awarded to the champions of the sixteen Division II conferences that crowned a basketball champion after the end of the regular season) and 32 at-large.
The field size was temporarily reduced for just the 2021 championship to account for teams and conferences that chose to not compete during the 2020–21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams from six conferences (CCAA, CIAA, Northeast-10, PSAC, SIAC and Sunshine State) did not participate in the regular season and were ineligible for tournament bids.
The remaining bids are allocated evenly among the eight NCAA-designated regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast, and West). Some teams, however, were placed outside their conferences' traditional regions to ensure an even distribution of teams across all eight regionals. As a result, each regions consists of two to three automatic qualifiers (the teams who won their respective conference tournaments) and two to four at-large bids.
Automatic bids (16) Automatic bids Region Conference Qualifying school RecordAtlanticCIAANone awardedMountain EastCharleston (WV) 17–2PSACNone awardedCentralGreat AmericanSouthern Nazarene12–7MIAANebraska–Kearney22–3Northern SunMinnesota Duluth13–1EastCACCDominican (NY)12–1 East Coast Roberts Wesleyan10–6 Northeast-10None awardedMidwest GLIAC Michigan Tech20–1 GLVC Drury20–1 G-MAC Tiffin16–8South Gulf South Union (TN)18–5 SIACNone awarded Sunshine StateNone awardedSouth Central Lone Star Lubbock Christian18–0 RMAC Black Hills State14–8Southeast Carolinas Belmont Abbey22–2 Peach Belt North Georgia17–1 South Atlantic Tusculum18–3WestCCAANone awardedGNACNone awarded PacWest Hawaii Pacific13–0
At-large bids (32) At-large bids Qualifying school Conference Record (Conf.)American InternationalNortheast-107–1Arkansas TechGreat American14–2 Ashland GLIAC14–8 Azusa Pacific PacWest10–4 Barton Carolinas12–2 Cameron Lone Star11–7 Carson-Newman South Atlantic15–3 Catawba South Atlantic10–3 Cedarville G-MAC19–5 Central Missouri MIAA19–4 Colorado Mines RMAC17–3 Concordia (NY) Central Atlantic6–5 Daemen East Coast12–2 Emporia State MIAA18–6 Fort Hays State MIAA22–3 Georgian Court Central Atlantic8–1 Glenville State Mountain East12–3 Grand Valley State GLIAC14–5 Kentucky Wesleyan G-MAC18–5 Lander Peach Belt17–1 Lee (TN) Gulf South15–7 Montevallo Gulf South14–6 Northwood GLIAC11–8 Southwestern Oklahoma Great American17–3 St. Cloud State Northern Sun12–5 Texas A&M–Commerce Lone Star13–3 Truman GLIAC16–4 Tuskegee SIAC12–1 Valdosta State Gulf South17–3WalshG-MAC16–6Western Colorado RMAC14–5Westminster (UT) RMAC11–5
Bracket
Atlantic Regional Site: Columbus, Ohio (Ohio Dominican)
Central Regional Site: Warrensburg, Missouri (Central Missouri)
East Regional Site: Amherst, New York (Daemen)
Midwest Regional Site: O'Reilly Family Event Center, Springfield, Missouri (Drury)
South Regional Site: Dahlonega, Georgia (North Georgia)
Southeast Regional Site: Jefferson City, Tennessee (Carson-Newman)
South Central Regional Site: Canyon, Texas (West Texas A&M)
West Regional Site: Grand Junction, Colorado (Colorado Mesa)
Elite Eight Site: Alumni Hall, Columbus, Ohio
See also 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament 2021 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament 2021 NAIA women's basketball tournament 2021 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
References