The 1985 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 14 and ended on March 31 and featured 32 teams. The Final Four consisted of Old Dominion, Northeast Louisiana, Western Kentucky, and Georgia, with Old Dominion defeating Georgia, 70–65 in the championship game. Old Dominion's Tracy Claxton was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

1985 is the first year ESPN began televising some of the Tournament games. They televised two of the four Regional finals (East and West Regional), as well as the two national semifinals. The Georgia vs Western Kentucky match up was shown live, while the Old Dominion vs. Northeast Louisiana game was shown tape-delayed. The Championship game was broadcast by CBS.

Notable events Georgia faced Western Kentucky in the semi-final. This was a rematch of a game played in December, when Western Kentucky prevailed, 72–67. However, in that game, Katrina McClain had been sidelined with an ankle injury. She was available to play in the Final Four, and achieved a career high total of 25 points. Her teammate, Teresa Edwards, scored 27, and the two helped Georgia win the semi-final 91–78.

In the championship game, Georgia took on Old Dominion. The Lady Monarchs weren't hitting their shots, scoring on only 38% of their field goal attempts, but they made up for their misses with rebounds. The Old Dominion team had set an NCAA Final Four record (still standing in 2012) with 57 rebounds in the semi-final game, and they repeated that performance in the championship game, pulling down 57 rebounds and limiting Georgia to 30. The game would be close, but Old Dominion prevailed, 70–65, to win the national Championship.

Records In the second half of the semi-final game between Georgia and Western Kentucky, Georgia scored 57 points while Western Kentucky scored 44. The combined point total of 101 points in a half, as well as the points scored by a single team in a half are both Final Four records, still standing in 2012.

In the other semi-final game, Old Dominion pulled down 57 rebounds against Northeast Louisiana. That number still stands as a Final Four rebounds record, although it was tied two days later by Old Dominion in the championship game against Georgia.

In a first-round game, Teresa Carmichael of Saint Joseph's University, attempted eleven field goals and hit all eleven. That's the most number of field goal attempts without a miss in tournament history, though 2012.

Qualifying teams – automatic Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in the 1985 NCAA Tournament. Eighteen conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1985 NCAA tournament. Automatic bids     Record   Qualifying School Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Pennsylvania State University Atlantic 10 3 North Carolina State University ACC 4 Syracuse University Big East 8 University of Missouri Big Eight 7 Ohio State University Big Ten 2 Brigham Young University High Country 8 University of Memphis Metro 6 College of the Holy Cross MAAC 7 Western Michigan University MAC 8 Illinois State University Missouri Valley Conference 8 University of Idaho Mountain West 5 University of Washington Northern Pacific 3 Middle Tennessee State University Ohio Valley Conference 5 University of Nevada, Las Vegas Pacific Coast 4 University of Tennessee SEC 3 Northeast Louisiana University Southland 2 University of Texas at Austin Southwest 1 Old Dominion University Sun Belt Conference 1 California State University, Long Beach Western Collegiate 1

Qualifying teams – at-large Fourteen additional teams were selected to complete the thirty-two invitations. At-large bids     Record   Qualifying school Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Saint Joseph's University Atlantic 10 5 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ACC 6 University of Virginia ACC 6 Louisiana Tech University Independent 1 University of Southern Mississippi Metro 7 Tennessee Technological University Ohio Valley Conference 7 Auburn University SEC 3 University of Georgia SEC 2 University of Mississippi SEC 2 Western Kentucky University Sun Belt Conference 4 San Diego State University Western Collegiate 5 University of Southern California Western Collegiate 4 University of California, Los Angeles Western Collegiate 6

Bids by conference Bids Conference Teams 4

SEC

Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee 4

Western Collegiate

Long Beach St., San Diego St., Southern California, UCLA 3

ACC

North Carolina, North Carolina St., Virginia 2

Atlantic 10

Penn St., St. Joseph’s 2

Metro

Memphis, Southern Miss. 2

Ohio Valley

Middle Tenn., Tennessee Tech 2

Sun Belt

Old Dominion, Western Ky. 1

Big East

Syracuse 1

Big Eight

Missouri 1

Big Ten

Ohio St. 1

High Country

BYU 1

Independent

Louisiana Tech 1

Metro Atlantic

Holy Cross 1

Mid-American

Western Mich. 1

Missouri Valley

Illinois St. 1

Mountain West

Idaho 1

Northern Pacific

Washington 1

Pacific Coast

UNLV 1

Southland

Northeast La. 1

Southwest

Texas

Bids by state

The thirty-two teams came from twenty-one states. California and Tennessee had the most teams with four each. Twenty-nine states did not have any teams receiving bids.

Bids State Teams 4

California

Long Beach St, San Diego St, Southern California, UCLA 4

Tennessee

Memphis, Middle Tenn, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech 2

Louisiana

Northeast La., Louisiana Tech 2

Mississippi

Ole Miss, Southern Miss 2

North Carolina

North Carolina St, North Carolina 2

Pennsylvania

Penn St, St Joseph’s 2

Virginia

Old Dominion, Virginia 1

Alabama

Auburn 1

Georgia

Georgia 1

Idaho

Idaho 1

Illinois

Illinois St 1

Kentucky

Western Ky 1

Massachusetts

Holy Cross 1

Michigan

Western Mich 1

Missouri

Missouri 1

Nevada

UNLV 1

New York

Syracuse 1

Ohio

Ohio St 1

Texas

Texas 1

Utah

BYU 1

Washington

Washington

Round 1 venues The 32 teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-8 in each region. In Round 1, the higher seed was given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In each case, the higher seed accepted the opportunity.

RegionHostVenue City State East

Ohio State University

St. John Arena

Columbus

Ohio East

Old Dominion University

ODU Fieldhouse

Norfolk

Virginia East

North Carolina State University

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh

North Carolina East

Pennsylvania State University

Rec Hall

University Park

Pennsylvania Mideast

University of Tennessee

Stokely Athletic Center

Knoxville

Tennessee Mideast

University of Texas

Frank Erwin Center

Austin

Texas Mideast

Western Kentucky University

E.A. Diddle Arena

Bowling Green

Kentucky Mideast

University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)

Tad Smith Coliseum

Oxford

Mississippi Midwest

Auburn University

Memorial Coliseum

Auburn

Alabama Midwest

Louisiana Tech University

Thomas Assembly Center

Ruston

Louisiana Midwest

Northeast Louisiana University

Ewing Coliseum

Monroe

Louisiana Midwest

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Thomas and Mack Center

Las Vegas

Nevada West

University of Georgia

Georgia Coliseum

Athens

Georgia West

Long Beach State

University Gym

Long Beach

California West

University of Southern California

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

Los Angeles

California West

University of Washington

Hec Edmundson Pavilion

Seattle

Washington

Regionals and Final Four

The regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 21 to March 24 at these sites:

East Regional Old Dominion University Fieldhouse, Norfolk, Virginia (Host: Old Dominion University) Midwest Regional Ewing Coliseum, Monroe, Louisiana (Host: Northeast Louisiana University) Mideast Regional E.A. Diddle Arena, Bowling Green, Kentucky (Host: Western Kentucky University) West Regional Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of California, Los Angeles)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four held March 29 and March 31 in Austin, Texas at the Frank Erwin Center. The University of Texas served as the host institution.

Brackets

East regional – Old Dominion – Norfolk, VA (Old Dominion University Fieldhouse)

Midwest regional – Northeast Louisiana University – Monroe, LA (Fant–Ewing Coliseum)

Mideast regional – Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY (E. A. Diddle Arena)

West regional – UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (Pauley Pavilion)

Final Four – University of Texas – Austin, Texas (Frank Erwin Center)

Record by conference Eleven conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play: Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Round of 32Sweet SixteenElite EightFinal FourChampionship Game Southeastern

4

.667

4

4

2

1

1 Western Collegiate

4

.556

4

4

1

–

– Atlantic Coast

3

.250

1

1

–

–

– Sun Belt

2

.889

2

2

2

2

1 Atlantic 10

2

.333

1

1

–

–

– Metro

2

–

–

–

–

–

– Ohio Valley

2

–

–

–

–

–

– Southland

1

.750

1

1

1

1

– Big Ten

1

.667

1

1

1

–

– Independent

1

.667

1

1

1

–

– Southwest

1

.500

1

1

–

–

– Nine conferences went 0-1: Big East, Big Eight, High Country, MAAC, MAC, Missouri Valley Conference, Mountain West, Northern Pacific, and Pacific Coast

All-Tournament team

Tracy Claxton, Old Dominion University Medina Dixon, Old Dominion University Teresa Edwards, University of Georgia Katrina McClain, University of Georgia Lillie Mason, Western Kentucky University

Game officials

Bob Olsen (semifinal) John Schleyer (semifinal) June Courteau (semifinal, final) Bill Stokes (semifinal, final)

See also 1985 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 1985 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament 1985 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament 1985 NAIA women's basketball tournament

Notes