The 1980 AIAW National Division III Basketball Championship was the inaugural

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

hosted by the

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

to determine the national champion of collegiate basketball among its Division III members in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The tournament was held in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. Worcester State defeated Wisconsin–La Crosse in the championship game, 76–73, to capture the Lancers' first AIAW Division III national title.

Format

Twenty-four teams participated in a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, with eight teams receiving byes into the second round. The tournament also included a third-place game for the two teams that lost in the semifinal games.

Tournament bracket

References

{{NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament AIAW women's basketball tournament AIAW Division III AIAW National Division III Basketball Championship 1980 in sports in Washington (state) Women's sports in Washington (state)

Format

Tournament bracket

See also

References