The NAIA women's basketball tournament has been held annually by the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

since

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

to determine the national champion of women's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

among its members in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The tournament was created to crown a women's national title for smaller colleges and universities, debuting one year before the first NCAA women's basketball tournament in 1982. From

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

to 2020, the NAIA sponsored two championships, one for its Division I members and another for those in its Division II. Both tournaments moved venues several times during the existences, with the final locations ultimately being

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

for Division I and

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

for Division II. During this time, the NAIA tournaments featured 32 teams with the entire events contested at a single arena over the course of one week. Following renewals, the 2018 and 2019 tournaments were held in those same cities, but the 2020 tournaments were called off due to the

COVID-19 outbreak The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Soon after, ...

. From 2021, the two tournaments were merged back into a single event, which initially featured 48 teams in 2021 before expanding to 64 teams in 2022. Since the expansion of the tournament to its current size, the format of the event has featured teams beginning play at one of sixteen regional sites with the winners of those regionals advancing to play in a final, four-round national tournament in Sioux City. Dordt are the defending champions, winning their first national title in 2024, and again in 2025.

Results

Single division (1981–1991)

For the first eleven years that the NAIA sponsored women's basketball, it held a single national championship for all programs across its entire membership. The tournament field was initially set at eight before later expansions to 16 and 32 teams.

Division I (1992–2020)

The NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Tournament was most recently held at the

Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark First Interstate Arena (colloquially known as The Metra) is a multi-purpose arena located at MetraPark, the fairgrounds of Billings, Montana. The arena has a capacity of 8,700 for ice hockey and Indoor American football, indoor football games, ...

, which hosted from 2017 until the return to a single division after the 2019–20 season.NAIA Women's DI History
The NAIA was the only international intercollegiate athletic association in North America; the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship was the first championship to feature a college from outside the United States in the championship game. Former member

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

was the national DI runner-up in 1996 and 1997.

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

has the most tournament championships with 9, and most championship game appearances with 11.

Single division (2021–present)

In 2018, the NAIA announced a new format for the 2021 tournament after the merger of Divisions I and II.

Champions

*Division II

titles A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

are not included in this list. Schools in ''italics'' are no longer in the NAIA.

Active programs

Former programs

References

External links

* {{National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics College women's basketball competitions in the United States Postseason college basketball competitions in the United States