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NAIA women's basketball championship

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NAIA women's basketball championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 NAIA women's basketball tournament
SportBasketball
Founded1981
MottoPassion. Tradition. History.
Divisions1
2 (1992–2020)
No. of teams64
32 (1992–2020)
CountryUnited States
Venue(s)Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark; Tyson Events Center (2004–2022)
Most recent
champion(s)
Dordt (1st)
Most titlesD-I: Oklahoma City (9)
D-II: Northwestern (IA) (5)
Single division: Southwestern Oklahoma State (6)
TV partner(s)ESPN 3 (national)
Related
competitions
NAIA Men's Basketball Championships
Official websitenaia.org/sports/wbkb

The NAIA women's basketball tournament has been held annually by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics since 1981 to determine the national champion of women's college basketball among its members in the United States and Canada.

The tournament was created to crown a women's national title for smaller colleges and universities, debuting one year before the first NCAA women's basketball tournament in 1982.

From 1992 to 2020, the NAIA sponsored two championships, one for its Division I members and another for those in its Division II. Both tournaments moved venues several times during the existences, with the final locations ultimately being Billings, Montana for Division I and Sioux City, Iowa for Division II. During this time, the NAIA tournaments featured 32 teams with the entire events contested at a single arena over the course of one week. Following renewals, the 2018 and 2019 tournaments were held in those same cities, but the 2020 tournaments were called off due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

From 2021, the two tournaments were merged back into a single event, which initially featured 48 teams in 2021 before expanding to 64 teams in 2022. Since the expansion of the tournament to its current size, the format of the event has featured teams beginning play at one of sixteen regional sites with the winners of those regionals advancing to play in a final, four-round national tournament in Sioux City, Iowa.

Dordt are the defending champions, winnining their first national title in 2024.

Results

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Single division (1981–1991)

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For the first eleven years that the NAIA sponsored women's basketball, it held a single national championship for all programs across its entire membership. The tournament field was initially set at eight before later expansions to 16 and 32 teams.

NAIA Women's Basketball Championship
Year Arena Location Championship Third-place game
Champion Score Runner-up Third place Score Fourth place
1981
Details
Kansas City, Missouri Venue Unknown Kentucky State 73–67 Texas Southern Northern State 74–65 Azusa Pacific
1982
Details
SW Oklahoma State 80–45 Missouri Southern State Saginaw Valley State 71–61 Berry
1983
Details
SW Oklahoma State (2) 80–68 Alabama–Huntsville UMKC 85–65 Portland
1984
Details
Cedar Rapids, Iowa UNC Asheville 72–70 (OT) Portland Dillard 70–66 Berry
1985
Details
SW Oklahoma State (3) 55–54 Saginaw Valley State Wayland Baptist 70–64 Midland Lutheran
1986
Details
Kansas City, Missouri Francis Marion 75–65 Wayland Baptist Louisiana College 85–78 Georgia Southwestern
1987
Details
SW Oklahoma State (4) 60–58 North Georgia Wisconsin–Green Bay 82–56 Arkansas Tech
1988
Details
Oklahoma City 113–95 Claflin Arkansas Tech 86–81
(OT)
Wingate
1989
Details
Southern Nazarene 98–96 Claflin Arkansas Tech & St. Ambrose
1990
Details
Jackson, Tennessee Oman Arena SW Oklahoma State (5) 82–75 Arkansas–Monticello Claflin & St. Ambrose
1991
Details
Fort Hays State 57–53 SW Oklahoma State Claflin & IUPUI

Division I (1992–2020)

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The NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Tournament was most recently held at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in Billings, Montana, which hosted from 2017 until the return to a single division after the 2019–20 season.[1] The NAIA was the only international intercollegiate athletic association in North America; the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship was the first championship to feature a college from outside the United States in the championship game. Former member Simon Fraser University was the national DI runner-up in 1996 and 1997. Oklahoma City University has the most tournament championships with 9, and most championship game appearances with 11.

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship
Year Arena Location Championship Semifinalists
Champion Score Runner-up
1992
Details
Oman Arena Jackson, Tennessee Arkansas Tech 84–68 Wayland Baptist St. Edward's (TX) & SW Oklahoma State
1993
Details
Arkansas Tech (2) 76–75 Union (TN) Southern Nazarene & SW Oklahoma State
1994
Details
Southern Nazarene (2) 97–74 David Lipscomb Auburn Montgomery & Montevallo
1995
Details
Southern Nazarene (3) 78–77 SE Oklahoma State Lipscomb & SW Oklahoma State
1996
Details
Southern Nazarene (4) 80–79 SE Oklahoma State Lipscomb & Union (TN)
1997
Details
Southern Nazarene (5) 78–73 Union (TN) Arkansas Tech & SW Oklahoma State
1998
Details
Union (TN) 73–70 Southern Nazarene Findlay & Simon Fraser
1999
Details
Oklahoma City (2) 72–55 Simon Fraser Freed-Hardeman & Southern Nazarene
2000
Details
Oklahoma City (3) 64–55 Simon Fraser (B.C.) Findlay & Southern Nazarene
2001
Details
Oklahoma City (4) 69–52 Auburn Montgomery Lewis–Clark State & Southern Nazarene
2002
Details
Oklahoma City (5) 82–73 Southern Nazarene Central State (OH) & Union (TN)
2003
Details
Southern Nazarene (6) 71–70 Oklahoma City USAO & Vanguard
2004
Details
Southern Nazarene (7) 77–61 Oklahoma City Brescia & Houston Baptist
2005
Details
Union (TN) (2) 67–63 Oklahoma City Houston Baptist & Point Loma Nazarene
2006
Details
Union (TN) (3) 79–62 Lubbock Christian The Master's & Vanguard
2007
Details
Lambuth 63–50 Cumberland Union (TN) & Vanguard
2008
Details
Vanguard 72–59 Trevecca Nazarene Freed-Hardeman & Union (TN)
2009
Details
Union (TN) (4) 73–63 Lambuth Oklahoma Baptist & Oklahoma City
2010
Details
Union (TN) (5) 73–65 Azusa Pacific Lee (TN) & Oklahoma City
2011
Details
Azusa Pacific 65–59 Union (TN) Freed-Hardeman & Shawnee State
2012
Details
Frankfort Convention Center Frankfort, Kentucky Oklahoma City (6) 69–48 Union (TN) Georgetown (KY) & Lubbock Christian
2013
Details
Westmont 71–65 Lee (TN) Cumberland & Freed-Hardeman
2014
Details
Oklahoma City (7) 80–76 Freed-Hardeman[2] John Brown & Wiley
2015
Details
Independence Events Center Independence, Missouri[3] Oklahoma City (8) 80–63 Campbellsville Freed-Hardeman & Westmont
2016
Details
MidAmerica Nazarene 49–35 Baker[4] Benedictine (KS) & Pikeville
2017
Details
Rimrock Auto Arena Billings, Montana Oklahoma City (9) 73–66 Lewis-Clark State Campbellsville & Vanguard
2018
Details
Freed-Hardeman 76–64 Westmont[5] Montana Western & Wayland Baptist
2019
Details
Montana Western 75–59 Oklahoma City Our Lady of the Lake & Freed-Hardeman
2020
Details
No tournament due to COVID-19.

Single division (2021–present)

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In 2018, the NAIA announced a new format for the 2021 tournament after the merger of Divisions I and II.

NAIA Women's Basketball Championship
Year Arena Location Championship Semifinalists
Champion Score Runner-up
2021
Details
Tyson Events Center Sioux City, Iowa[6] Westmont (2) 72–61 Thomas More Indiana Wesleyan & Morningside
2022
Details
Thomas More 77–65 Dordt Central Methodist & Southeastern (FL)
2023
Details
Clarke 63–52 Thomas More Central Methodist & Dakota State
2024
Details
Dordt 57–53 Providence (MT) Carroll & Cumberlands

Champions

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  • Division II titles are not included in this list. Schools in italics are no longer in the NAIA.
NAIA women's basketball championship is located in the United States
Dordt
Dordt
Clarke
Clarke
Montana Western
Montana Western
FHU
FHU
MNU
MNU
Vanguard
Vanguard
OCU
OCU
National championships among active programs: 9, 1

Active programs

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Team Titles Years
Oklahoma City 9 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017
Vanguard 1 2008
MidAmerica Nazarene 1 2016
Freed–Hardeman 1 2018
Montana Western 1 2019
Clarke 1 2023
Dordt 1 2024

Former programs

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Team Titles Years
Southern Nazarene 7 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004
SW Oklahoma State 5 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1990
Union (TN) 5 1998, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010
Westmont 2 2013, 2021
Arkansas Tech 2 1992, 1993
Kentucky State 1 1981
UNC Asheville 1 1984
Francis Marion 1 1986
Fort Hays State 1 1991
Lambuth 1 2007
Azusa Pacific 1 2011
Thomas More 1 2022

See also

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References

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  1. ^ NAIA Women's DI History Archived 2022-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Oklahoma City Wins Seventh NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship". NAIA. March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  3. ^ "Oklahoma City Wins Back-to-Back Titles". NAIA. March 24, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  4. ^ "MidAmerica Nazarene wins its first ever National Championship". NAIA. March 22, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  5. ^ "After 21 Trips, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) Wins National Championship". NAIA. March 21, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  6. ^ "Sioux City selected to host 2021 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship". KTIV.com. February 7, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
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