1982 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
| 1982 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Teams | 32 | ||||
| Finals site |
Norfolk Scope Norfolk, Virginia |
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| Champions | Louisiana Tech (1st title) | ||||
| Runner-up | Cheyney (1st title game) | ||||
| Semifinalists | |||||
| MOP | Janice Lawrence Louisiana Tech | ||||
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The 1982 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament was the first Women's Basketball Tournament held under the auspices of the NCAA. From 1972–1982, 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, 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 and 2012 titles as head coach at Baylor.
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 tournaments 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.
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