NAIA Division II women's basketball championship explained

Sport:Basketball
Founded:1992
Folded:2020
Teams:20 (1992–93)
24 (1994)
32 (1995–2019)
Venue:Monmouth, Oregon
Angola, Indiana
Sioux City, Iowa
Most Champs:Northwestern (IA) (5)
Related Comps:NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship
Website:NAIA.org
NAIA Men's Basketball

The NAIA Division II women's basketball championship is the former tournament held by the NAIA to determine the national champion of women's college basketball among its Division II members in the United States and Canada.

The tournament was held annually from 1992 to 2019, after which the NAIA consolidated its two divisions, returning to the single national championship for men's and women's basketball that it held between 1981 and 1991.[1] The last separate Division II tournament was scheduled for 2020, but it was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus making the 2019 the last completed event.

Over its twenty-eight year history, the tournament was played in three different cities and at four different venues. Unlike the NCAA's annual basketball tournaments, where games are played at an assortment of regional sites over the course of several weeks, all NAIA tournament games were played at a single, centralized arena.[2]

Northwestern College had the most national titles with five.

Morningside College, the 2015 champion, had the second most national titles with four. Northwestern also had the most tournament championship game appearances, with six.

Results

style= colspan=9NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championship
Year ArenaLocationChampionshipSemifinalists
ChampionScoreRunner-up
1992
Details
Monmouth, OregonNorthern State 73–56 Mount St. Joseph & Western Oregon
1993
Details
Northern Montana 71–68 Northern State Husson & Tarleton State
1994
Details
Northern State (2) 48–45 Western OregonConcordia Wisconsin & Mount Mercy
1995
Details
Western Oregon 75–67 Northwest NazareneMount Mercy & Shawnee State
1996
Details
Hershey HallAngola, IndianaWestern Oregon (2) 80–77 HuronDoane & Evangel
1997
Details
Northwest Nazarene 64–46 Black Hills StateDoane & Southern Oregon
1998
Details
Sioux City, IowaWalsh 73–66 Doane & South Dakota Tech
1999
Details
Shawnee State 80–65 Saint Francis (IN)Central Methodist & South Dakota Tech
2000
Details
Mary (ND) 59–49 Northwestern (IA)Northwest Nazarene & Saint Francis (IN)
2001
Details
Northwestern (IA) 77–50 AlbertsonBriar Cliff & Sterling
2002
Details
Hastings 73–69 CornerstoneBriar Cliff & Dakota Wesleyan
2003
Details
Hastings (2) 59–53 Dakota Wesleyan Concordia Nebraska & Sioux Falls
2004
Details
Gateway ArenaMorningside87–74 CedarvilleHastings & Mary (ND)
2005
Details
Morningside (2) 75–65 CedarvilleConcordia Nebraska & Evangel
2006
Details
Hastings (3) 58–39 Ozarks (MO)Northwestern (IA) & Saint Francis (IN)
2007
Details
Indiana Wesleyan48–34 Ozarks (MO)Cedarville & MidAmerica Nazarene
2008
Details
Northwestern (IA) (2) 82–75 Ozarks (MO)Hastings & Morningside
2009
Details
Morningside (3) 68–62 HastingsNorthwestern (IA) & Ozarks (MO)
2010
Details
Northwestern (IA) (3) 85–66 Shawnee StateBriar Cliff & Indiana Wesleyan
2011
Details
Northwestern (IA) (4) 88–83 DavenportMorningside & Walsh
2012
Details
Northwestern (IA) (5) 75–62 Ozarks (MO)Briar Cliff & Concordia Nebraska
2013
Details
Indiana Wesleyan (2) 61–43 Davenport (MI)Morningside & Northwestern (IA)
2014
Details
Saint Francis (IN) 75–68 Ozarks (MO)[3] Cardinal Stritch & Davenport
2015
Details
Morningside (4) 59–57 Concordia Nebraska[4] Briar Cliff & Hastings
2016
Details
Marian (IN) 59–48 Southern Oregon[5] Goshen & Mount Marty
2017
Details
Marian (IN) (2) 66–52 Saint XavierConcordia Nebraska & St. Francis (IL)
2018
Details
Dakota Wesleyan 82–59 Concordia Nebraska[6] Northwestern (IA) & Saint Xavier
2019
Details
Tyson Events CenterConcordia Nebraska 67–59 Dakota Wesleyan & Northwestern (IA)
2020
Details
Tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemicNone

Champions

Team Championships Winning years
5 2001, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012
4 2004, 2005, 2009, 2015
3 2002, 2003, 2006
Northern State 2 1992, 1994
Western Oregon 2 1995, 1996
2 2007, 2013
2 2016, 2017
1 1993
Northwest Nazarene 1 1997
Walsh 1 1998
1 1999
Mary 1 2000
1 2014
1 2018
1 2019

See also

Notes and References

  1. NAIA to Combine Basketball Divisions . NAIA . April 16, 2018 . April 20, 2018.
  2. https://www.naia.org/sports/wbkb2/2018-19/files/DIIWBB_Championship.pdf NAIA Women's DII History
  3. News: Smith. Ben. Saint Francis Cougars finish unbeaten, win 1st NAIA Division II title. April 29, 2014. The Journal Gazette. March 19, 2014.
  4. Web site: NAIA . Driven Mustangs Will Their Way to National Title, 59-57, Over Concordia . March 17, 2015 . March 24, 2015.
  5. Web site: NAIA . Marian (Ind.) wins first ever national championship . March 15, 2016 . April 4, 2016.
  6. News: Dakota Wesleyan wins their program's first national championship . NAIA . March 14, 2018 . March 30, 2018.