The 2010 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament started Saturday, March 20, 2010, and was completed on Tuesday, April 6 of the same year, with University of Connecticut Huskies defending their title from the previous year by defeating Stanford, 53–47.
Tournament procedure
The field consisted of 64 teams for the 17th consecutive season. Thirty automatic bids were awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament, with a 31st automatic bid going to the regular season champion of the Ivy League. The remaining 33 bids were "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc. (meaning where the two seeds add up to 17, that team will be assigned to play another).
The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 64.
Notable events The top seeded Tennessee Lady Vols faced the Baylor Lady Bears in the Memphis Regional semifinals. This was a rematch of the season open for the two teams, a game won by Tennessee 74–65. Earlier in March, the freshman center for Baylor, Brittney Griner had broken the nose of Jordan Barncastle in a game against Texas Tech, which resulted in Griner playing more tentative, concerned about drawing attention to the referees. She was not tentative in the game against the Lady Vols, scoring 27 points and recording ten blocks. Despite her performance, Tennessee led by five points with under eight minutes to go in the game. Baylor then went on a 21–1 run to take a 15-point lead, and command of the game. Baylor won 77–62 to advance to the regional finals.
Stanford more than doubled up Georgia, winning 73–36 in the regional semifinal, then faced Xavier. Although Stanford opened up an early five-point lead, Xavier cut the lead to one. The Cardinal extended the lead to five again, and the Musketeers cut the lead to two points at the half. Stanford opened up a six-point lead in the second half, but Xavier responded to take a lead. With just under a minute to go, Xavier took a two-point lead and Kayla Pedersen hit a jumper to tie the game at 53 points apiece. With 18 seconds left, Xavier ran a play that opened up Delaquese Jernigan under the basket. She received the ball, and missed a point-blank uncontested layup. The rebound came out beyond the three-point line to Amber Harris. The Cardinal were trying to cover the Xavier players, but missed Jernigan standing by herself under the basket. Harris passed the ball in to Jernigan who took an uncontested layup and missed it again. With only four seconds left in the game Jeanette Pohlen drove the length of the court, weaving among defenders, and threw up a shot with under a second left. The shot went in and the Cardinal won 55–53 to advance.
In the Kansas City Regional, both top seeds were upset in the semifinal round. Kentucky, led by 21 point from A'dia Mathies, opened up a lead ant he second half, extended it to 19 points, and were victorious, beating Nebraska 76–67 to advance to the regional finals. The regional semifinal game was a second of the season for Oklahoma and Notre Dame, a game the Irish has won in the regular season. In this game the score was tied early, while Oklahoma took a slim lead at the half. They extended the lead to eight points in the second half, but Notre Dame took the lead back at 50–49. With less than a minute to play, Oklahoma took a three-point lead, but Skylar Diggins hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 66 points each. Oklahoma had the ball for the last possession, but never got a shot off, so the game went to overtime. The game was tied with 72 points for each team with seconds to go when Oklahoma had another chance. This time, Nyeshia Stevenson hit a three-pointer, giving the Sooners a three-point lead with just over four seconds to go. Notre Dame tried a long inbounds pass, but were unsuccessful, and Oklahoma won 77–72.
In the Dayton Regional, Connecticut prevailed easily. They held their first three opponents to under 40 points each. While Florida State, in the regional final, managed to 50, the Huskies scored 90. This set up a game against Baylor in a semifinal game. The Baylor Bears would not go so easily. The Huskies seemed to be on the same track as prior games, with a 13-point lead at halftime. Kalana Greene scored the first basket of the second half, extending the lead to 15 points. However, Baylor then scored the next twelve points, cutting the lead to three. Connecticut, which had missed eight consecutive shots, began hitting again, and their defense held Baylor without a field goal for over seven minutes. UConn scored 16 points during the stretch and rebuild the lead. UConn would go on to win the game 70–50, to reach the championship game.
After the close call against Xavier, the Cardinal seemed in control in their game against Oklahoma in the second half when they led by 18 points. However, the Sooners, concentrated on defense, and cut the lead to three points with only 16 seconds left in the game. On the inbounds play, Oklahoma failed to guard Nnemkadi Ogwumike, and Kayla Pedersen made a long pass to an open Ogwumike who made an open layup to extend the lead to five points. Then Stanford stole the ball, was fouled, and hit the final two free throws to complete the victory 73–66. Ogwumike scored 38 points, including the final seven of the game for Stanford.
Stanford entered the national championship game on a 27-game winning streak. The last game they had lost, occurred in December 2009. It was against Connecticut. The UConn team entered the national championship game on a 77 winning streak. The last game they had lost, occurred in April 2008. It was against Stanford.
UConn was no stranger to low scoring halves in an NCAA game. There had been, up to this point, eleven halves of basketball in NCAA tournament history with twelve or fewer points. UConn was involved in four of them. On three occasions, involving Southern University in 2010, Long Island University in 2001, and Temple in 2010, the Huskies held their opponents to twelve or fewer points. However, on this day, Connecticut would be on the opposite side of the ledger, scoring only 12 points against Stanford in the first half. The first two minutes gave no indication of this result. UConn held a 5–0 lead just over two minutes into the game, but they would not score again until after the media timeout with under eight minutes to go in the half. Connecticut hit but 5 of their 29 shot attempts in the first half for a shooting percentage of 17% described by the New York Times as "laughable". However, their inability to hit a basket did not prevent them from playing defense, and they held the Cardinal to 8 baskets on 31 shots, a percentage the Times called "abysmal". Stanford ended the half with an 8-point lead.
The second half proved to be very different. UConn scored 17 of the first 19 points in the half and took a lead. They held Ogwumike, who had scored 38 points in the semifinal, to eleven points. They held Jayne Appel, one of the nation's leading centers, to zero points on 0–12 shooting. Appel was playing on a sore ankle that required pain killers during the game. Maya Moore scored 23 points for UConn and Tina Charles contributed eleven rebounds. In the end, Connecticut won 53–47 to win their seventh national championship and complete the first back-to-back undefeated seasons in NCAA history.
Schedule and venues
First and second rounds (subregionals)
The format is the same as the men's tournament, except that there are 64 teams and no play-in game. There are 31 automatic bids for conference champions and 33 at-large bids available.
The subregionals, based on the "pod system" keeping teams at or close to home, were at these locations from March 21 through 24. Prior to the committee's decision to expand the number of subregional sites to sixteen, eight sites were chosen. This list included the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey. When the decision was made to increase the number of sites to sixteen, Trenton declined to participate.
The remaining seven sites continue to be part of the final list of sixteen:
Frank Erwin Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (Sunday, Tuesday) Haas Pavilion, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California (Saturday, Monday) Thompson–Boling Arena, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee (Saturday, Monday) Williams Arena, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis (Sunday, Tuesday) Ted Constant Convocation Center, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia (Sunday, Tuesday) Edmund P. Joyce Center, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana (Sunday, Tuesday) Wells Fargo Arena, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona (Saturday, Monday)
As per the expansion of the subregional sites, these nine sites were added in 2008: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (host: University of Louisville) (Saturday, Monday) The Pit, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (Saturday, Monday) Lloyd Noble Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma (Sunday, Tuesday) Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Saturday, Monday) Petersen Events Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (Sunday, Tuesday) Cintas Center, Xavier University, Cincinnati (Sunday, Tuesday) Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee, Florida (host: Florida State University) (Saturday, Monday) Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (Sunday, Tuesday)
That list included Albuquerque, but Albuquerque had to withdraw, due to construction issues. The NCAA added Stanford, as a replacement: Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California (Saturday, Monday)
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all locations are on-campus sites.
Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight (regional semifinals and finals)
The Regionals, named for the city rather than the region of geographic importance since 2005, which was held from March 28 to 31, were at these sites: Dayton Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio Kansas City Regional, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (host: Big 12 Conference) Memphis Regional, FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee (host: University of Memphis) Sacramento Regional, ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California (host: University of the Pacific)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) April 4 and 6 Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (hosts: the Incarnate Word, the UTSA, and San Antonio Sports)
This is the second time the women's Final Four was played in San Antonio, having previously been played in the city in 2002.
Tournament records Points in a Final Four game—Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 38 points, the second most ever in an NCAA Final Four game in the National semifinal between Stanford and Oklahoma. Free throws—Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford, hit 12 free throws in the semifinal against Oklahoma, tied for the most free throws completed in a semifinal game. Free throws—Stanford attempted four three throws in a game against Connecticut, the fewest free throws attempted in an NCAA Tournament game. Blocked shots—Brittney Griner, Baylor, blocked 14 shots in the second-round game against Georgetown, the most blocked shots recorded in an NCAA Tournament game since blocks began being recorded in 1988. Free throws—Iowa State completed zero throws in a game against Connecticut, tied for the fewest free throws completed in an NCAA Tournament game. Blocked shots—Baylor blocked 16 shots in the second-round game against Georgetown, the most blocked shots recorded in an NCAA Tournament game.