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Message: [QUOTE="KBOrange23, post: 1621212, member: 3887"] I became a fan of SU Women's Basketball in the 1980-81 season. That season the team was one of 24 teams selected to play in "the tournament" who had hopes of winning the National Championship. "The tournament" however was not the NCAA tournament, but the AIAW tournament. As stated in the prior thread on the subject of women's basketball history, the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) sponsored the women's basketball national championship tournament, and did so from 1972-1982. The tournament field consisted of 16 teams from 1972-1980, then expanded to 24 teams for the 1981 and 1982 tournaments. Small colleges such as Immaculata, Delta State, and Wayland Baptist dominated the competition. The Mighty Macs of Immaculata won the first three championships (1972-1974). Delta State's Lady Statesmen won the next three titles (1975-1977), defeating Immaculata in the 1975 and 1976 finals. The 1977 tournament saw the rise of the larger universities as Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee (yes Pat Summitt, known then as Pat Head, was coach of the Lady Vols), Michigan State, Kansas State, Utah, LSU, and Baylor were in the field. LSU and Tennessee went to the semifinals, with the Tigers beating the Mighty Macs and the Lady Statesmen beating the Lady Vols. Delta State beat LSU in the final. (Sidebar: for those of you who know of WNBA star Lauren Jackson, her mother Marie Bennie was LSU's starting center in this final). The 1978 tournament was historic on two fronts: it was the first tournament to divide the first two rounds into four regional sites held over two weekends. It was also the first tournament to have its championship game televised. NBC did the honors and America watched UCLA win the national championship on its home court over Maryland. Old Dominion won the 1979 and 1980 championships, while Louisiana Tech took the title in 1981. NBC again televised these championship games. 1982 brought us TWO national champions. This was the year the NCAA sponsored its first women's national tournament. Because the NCAA is, well of course, the NCAA, most of the women's basketball programs immediately went under their umbrella and elected to participate in this tournament. The first NCAA Final Four for women's hoop consisted of Louisiana Tech, Tennessee, Maryland, and Cheyney State. Louisiana Tech defeated Cheyney State (coached then by current Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer) in the final. Rutgers (coached by former Immaculata star and current Lafayette College coach Theresa Grentz) won the last AIAW trophy, defeating Texas in the championship. [/QUOTE]

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