| Gender: | Women's |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Division: | II |
| Teams: | 48 |
| Finalfourcity: | Columbus, Ohio |
| Finalfourarena: | Alumni Hall |
| Champions: | Lubbock Christian |
| Titlecount: | 3rd |
| Runnerup: | Drury |
| Gamecount: | 2nd |
| Semifinal1: | Central Missouri |
| Finalfourcount: | 6th |
| Semifinal2: | Lander |
| Finalfourcount2: | 1st |
| Coach: | Steve Gomez |
| Coachcount: | 3rd |
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.[1]
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).
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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Conference | Qualifying school | Record | ||||
| Atlantic | CIAA | None awarded | |||||
| Mountain East | Charleston (WV) | 17–2 | |||||
| PSAC | None awarded | ||||||
| Central | Great American | Southern Nazarene | 12–7 | ||||
| MIAA | Nebraska–Kearney | 22–3 | |||||
| Northern Sun | Minnesota Duluth | 13–1 | |||||
| East | CACC | Dominican (NY) | 12–1 | ||||
| East Coast | Roberts Wesleyan | 10–6 | |||||
| Northeast-10 | None awarded | ||||||
| Midwest | GLIAC | Michigan Tech | 20–1 | ||||
| GLVC | Drury | 20–1 | |||||
| G-MAC | Tiffin | 16–8 | |||||
| South | Gulf South | Union (TN) | 18–5 | ||||
| SIAC | None awarded | ||||||
| Sunshine State | None awarded | ||||||
| South Central | Lone Star | Lubbock Christian | 18–0 | ||||
| RMAC | Black Hills State | 14–8 | |||||
| Southeast | Carolinas | Belmont Abbey | 22–2 | ||||
| Peach Belt | North Georgia | 17–1 | |||||
| South Atlantic | Tusculum | 18–3 | |||||
| West | CCAA | None awarded | |||||
| GNAC | None awarded | ||||||
| PacWest | Hawaii Pacific | 13–0 | |||||
| At-large bids | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying school | Conference | Record (Conf.) | |||||
| American International | Northeast-10 | 7–1 | |||||
| Arkansas Tech | Great American | 14–2 | |||||
| Ashland | GLIAC | 14–8 | |||||
| Azusa Pacific | PacWest | 10–4 | |||||
| Barton | Carolinas | 12–2 | |||||
| Cameron | Lone Star | 11–7 | |||||
| Carson-Newman | South Atlantic | 15–3 | |||||
| Catawba | South Atlantic | 10–3 | |||||
| Cedarville | G-MAC | 19–5 | |||||
| Central Missouri | MIAA | 19–4 | |||||
| Colorado Mines | RMAC | 17–3 | |||||
| Concordia (NY) | Central Atlantic | 6–5 | |||||
| Daemen | East Coast | 12–2 | |||||
| Emporia State | MIAA | 18–6 | |||||
| Fort Hays State | MIAA | 22–3 | |||||
| Georgian Court | Central Atlantic | 8–1 | |||||
| Glenville State | Mountain East | 12–3 | |||||
| Grand Valley State | GLIAC | 14–5 | |||||
| Kentucky Wesleyan | G-MAC | 18–5 | |||||
| Lander | Peach Belt | 17–1 | |||||
| Lee (TN) | Gulf South | 15–7 | |||||
| Montevallo | Gulf South | 14–6 | |||||
| Northwood | GLIAC | 11–8 | |||||
| Southwestern Oklahoma | Great American | 17–3 | |||||
| St. Cloud State | Northern Sun | 12–5 | |||||
| Texas A&M–Commerce | Lone Star | 13–3 | |||||
| Truman | GLIAC | 16–4 | |||||
| Tuskegee | SIAC | 12–1 | |||||
| Valdosta State | Gulf South | 17–3 | |||||
| Walsh | G-MAC | 16–6 | |||||
| Western Colorado | RMAC | 14–5 | |||||
| Westminster (UT) | RMAC | 11–5 | |||||