The Texas Woman's Pioneers (also TWU Pioneers) are the athletics teams that represent

Texas Woman's University Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a Public research university, public coeducational research university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, ...

, located in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

, in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

intercollegiate sports. Even though TWU accepts male students, only female sports are sponsored. The Pioneers compete as members of the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas ...

in basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball, and as an independent in gymnastics. The gymnastics team competes in the Midwest Independent Conference which comprises NCAA Division I, II and III institutions. TWU also fields teams in artistic swimming, dance, stunt, and wrestling.

Sports sponsored

Softball

As an

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

Division I team in the 1979

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

, the Pioneer softball team won the national championship by defeating UCLA, 1–0, in the deciding game, led by pitcher Kathy Arendsen.

Gymnastics

The TWU Gymnastics squad has won the

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It sets the domestic rules and policies that govern the sport, promotes and develops gymnastics on the grassroots ...

Collegiate National Championships (non-NCAA) with a record 11 team championships since 1993. The most recent championship was in 2018. TWU is the only varsity-level intercollegiate gymnastics program in the state of Texas.

Track and field

TWU won three women's collegiate outdoor track-and-field national championships: in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, and

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

. These included the first (and three of the first five) DGWS/AIAW track-and-field championships ever held.

Basketball

The TWU basketball team reached the championship game at the 2024 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament, where they lost to Minnesota State. They finished the season with a program-record 34 wins.

Volleyball

In 1973, TWU reached the national championship match of the AIAW women's volleyball tournament, only to fall to Long Beach State.

Gallery

Teams

Athletics-WBSK vs TWU-6668 (16623155746).jpg, The Pioneers basketball team in action against the

Texas A&M–Commerce Lions The East Texas A&M Lions (formerly the East Texas State Lions and Texas A&M–Commerce Lions) are the athletic teams that represent East Texas A&M University, located in Commerce, Texas, in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. The Lions comp ...

in 2015 Texas A&M–Commerce vs. Texas Woman's softball 2018 02.jpg, The Pioneers softball team in action against the

in 2018 Athletics-Soccer vs TWU-4689 (15309093428).jpg, The Pioneers soccer team in action against the

in 2014 Athletics-Volleyball vs TWU-2398 (15336986685).jpg, The Pioneers volleyball team in action against the

in 2014

Venues

Texas Woman's University September 2015 67 (Pioneer Hall).jpg, Pioneer Hall (basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics) Texas Woman's University September 2015 39 (Pioneer Field).jpg, Pioneer Field (softball) Texas Woman's University September 2015 36 (TWU Soccer Field).jpg, TWU Soccer Field

References

External links

* {{Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference navbox