1991 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 1991 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 13 and ended on March 31. The tournament featured 48 teams. The Final Four event was hosted by the University of New Orleans, and held at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The Final Four teams consisted of Tennessee, Stanford, Connecticut, and Virginia, with Tennessee defeating Virginia 70–67 (OT) to win its third NCAA title. Virginia's Dawn Staley was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

This tournament was the first to adopt the FIBA's 10ths-second clock during the final minute of each period, unlike whole seconds as in past seasons.

Notable events James Madison earned an 8 seed and beat the 9 seed, Kentucky in a first round match-up. This set up a game between the Dukes, and the number 1 seed in the East Regional Penn State, with the game played on the Penn State home court. The game started out in favor of the home team, as they scored the first eleven points of the game, forcing JMU coach Sheila Moorman to call a timeout. The lead extended, with the Nittany Lions pulling out to a 24–9. The coach decided to stress defense and it helped, but Penn State held a 41–29 lead at halftime. The team continued to stress defense in the second half, and the Dukes held Penn State to six points in the first eight minutes of the second half. The Dukes took a lead, and were up by four points with under twelve minutes to go. Penn State cut the lead to two points, and with 19 seconds to go attempted a three-point shot for the win, but the shot was blocked, and JMU would upset the top seed. It was only the second time in the ten-year history of the NCAA tournament that a number 1 seed had failed to advance to the regional. Coincidentally, first time was in 1986 when number 1 seeded Virginia failed to reach the regional when they were defeated by James Madison.

10th seeded Vanderbilt upset 7th seeded South Carolina, then went on to defeat the second seeded Purdue 69–63, to advance to the regional, where they would lose to Auburn. 10th seeded Lamar upset 7th seeded Texas, then went on to a 20-point victory over second seeded LSU. Oklahoma State faced Michigan State in a game that would go to three overtimes. Oklahoma State won 96–94.

Connecticut defeated Clemson in the Regional final to earn their first trip to a Final Four. There they would take on one seeded Virginia. Connecticut's coach, Geno Auriemma started his women's basketball college coaching career as an assistant coach under Debbie Ryan at Virginia. In a game identified in 2009 as one of the top ten games in UConn history, Tonya Cardoza scored 16 points for the Cavaliers, including four three throws in the final second to help Virginia defeat Connecticut 61–55. Tonya Cardoza would go on to become an assistant coach at Connecticut for many years.

In the other semifinal game, Tennessee defeated Stanford 68–60 to advance to the championship game against Virginia. The Cavaliers would lead by five points with under two minutes to go, but Tennessee's Dena Head scored, was fouled, and converted the free throw to cut the margin to two points. Virginia failed to score, then fouled Head with seconds to go, who sank the free throws to send the game to overtime. Head continued to hit free throws in overtime, and the Volunteers went on to win the game and the national championship 70–67.

Qualifying teams – automatic Forty-eight teams were selected to participate in the 1991 NCAA Tournament. Twenty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1991 NCAA tournament.

Automatic bids     Record   Qualifying school Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Appalachian State University Southern Conference 12 University of Arkansas at Little Rock Southwest 3 University of Connecticut Big East 3 DePaul University North Star Conference 12 Florida State University Metro 5 California State University, Long Beach Big West Conference 4 Louisiana Tech University American South 10 Louisiana State University SEC 2 Southwest Missouri State University Gateway 8 University of Montana Big Sky Conference 11 North Carolina State University ACC 2 Oklahoma State University–Stillwater Big Eight 5 Pennsylvania State University Atlantic 10 1 Purdue University Big Ten 2 University of Richmond Colonial 7 Stanford University Pac-10 2 Stephen F. Austin State University Southland 8 Tennessee Technological University Ohio Valley Conference 9 University of Toledo MAC 11 University of Utah WAC 12 Western Kentucky University Sun Belt Conference 4

Qualifying teams – at-large Twenty-seven additional teams were selected to complete the forty-eight invitations.

At-large bids     Record   Qualifying school Conference Regular Season Conference Seed Auburn University Southeastern 3 California State University, Fullerton Big West 7 Clemson University Atlantic Coast 4 Fairfield University Metro Atlantic 12 The George Washington University Atlantic 10 10 University of Georgia Southeastern 1 College of the Holy Cross Patriot 11 University of Iowa Big Ten 6 James Madison University Colonial 8 University of Kentucky Southeastern 9 Lamar University American South 10 University of Maryland, College Park Atlantic Coast 6 Michigan State University Big Ten 4 University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Southeastern 9 Northwestern University Big Ten 6 Providence College Big East 5 Rutgers University Atlantic 10 6 University of South Carolina Metro 7 University of Southern California Pacific-10 5 University of Tennessee Southeastern 1 University of Texas at Austin Southwest 7 Texas Tech University Southwest 9 University of Nevada, Las Vegas Big West 8 Vanderbilt University Southeastern 10 University of Virginia Atlantic Coast 1 University of Washington Pacific-10 3 Washington State University Pacific-10 11

Bids by conference Twenty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In ten cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Two conferences, Metro Atlantic and Patriot sent a single representative as an at-large team. Twenty-five additional at-large teams were selected from ten of the conferences.

Bids Conference Teams 7 Southeastern

LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt 4 Atlantic Coast

North Carolina St., Clemson, Maryland, Virginia 4 Big Ten

Purdue, Iowa, Michigan St., Northwestern 4 Pacific-10

Stanford, Southern California, Washington, Washington St. 3 Atlantic 10

Penn St., George Washington, Rutgers 3 Big West

Long Beach St., Cal St. Fullerton, UNLV 3 Southwest

Arkansas, Texas, Texas Tech 2 American South

Louisiana Tech, Lamar 2 Big East

Connecticut, Providence 2 Colonial

Richmond, James Madison 2 Metro

Florida St., South Carolina 1 Big Eight

Oklahoma St. 1 Big Sky

Montana 1 Metro Atlantic

Fairfield 1 Mid-American

Toledo 1 Missouri Valley

Missouri St. 1 North Star

DePaul 1 Ohio Valley

Tennessee Tech 1 Patriot

Holy Cross 1 Southern

Appalachian St. 1 Southland

Stephen F. Austin 1 Sun Belt

Western Ky. 1 Western Athletic

Utah

First and second rounds

In 1991, the field remained at 48 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1-12 in each region. In Round 1, seeds 8 and 9 faced each other for the opportunity to face the 1 seed in the second round, seeds 7 and 10 played for the opportunity to face the 2 seed, seeds 5 and 12 played for the opportunity to face the 4 seed, and seeds 6 and 11 played for the opportunity to face the 3 seed. In the first two rounds, the higher seed was given the opportunity to host the first-round game. In most cases, the higher seed accepted the opportunity. The exceptions:

Seventh seeded South Carolina played tenth seeded Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt Sixth seeded Maryland played eleventh seeded Holy Cross at Holy Cross Sixth seeded Iowa played eleventh seeded Montana at Montana Fourth seeded Michigan State played fifth seeded Oklahoma State at Oklahoma State Second seeded LSU played tenth seeded Lamar at Lamar

The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the thirty-two first and second round locations: Region RndHostVenue City State East

1

Providence College

Alumni Hall (Providence)

Providence

Rhode Island East

1

Rutgers University

Louis Brown Athletic Center

Piscataway

New Jersey East

1

James Madison University

James Madison University Convocation Center

Harrisonburg

Virginia East

1

University of Richmond

Robins Center

Richmond

Virginia East

2

Clemson University

Littlejohn Coliseum

Clemson

South Carolina East

2

University of Connecticut

Harry A. Gampel Pavilion

Storrs

Connecticut East

2

Pennsylvania State University

Recreation Building (Rec Hall)

University Park

Pennsylvania East

2

North Carolina State University

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh

North Carolina Mideast

1

Florida State University

Tully Gymnasium

Tallahassee

Florida Mideast

1

Vanderbilt University

Memorial Gymnasium (Vanderbilt University)

Nashville

Tennessee Mideast

1

Southwest Missouri State University

Hammons Student Center

Springfield

Missouri Mideast

1

Holy Cross

Hart Center

Worcester

Massachusetts Mideast

2

Purdue University

Mackey Arena

West Lafayette

Indiana Mideast

2

Western Kentucky University

E.A. Diddle Arena

Bowling Green

Kentucky Mideast

2

University of Tennessee

Thompson-Boling Arena

Knoxville

Tennessee Mideast

2

Auburn University

Memorial Coliseum (Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum)

Auburn

Alabama Midwest

1

Northwestern University

Welsh-Ryan Arena

Evanston

Illinois Midwest

1

Oklahoma State University

Gallagher-Iba Arena

Stillwater

Oklahoma Midwest

1

Stephen F. Austin University

William R. Johnson Coliseum

Nacogdoches

Texas Midwest

1

University of Texas

Frank Erwin Center

Austin

Texas Midwest

2

Oklahoma State University

Gallagher-Iba Arena

Stillwater

Oklahoma Midwest

2

University of Virginia

University Hall (University of Virginia)

Charlottesville

Virginia Midwest

2

Lamar University

Montagne Center

Beaumont

Texas Midwest

2

University of Arkansas

Barnhill Arena

Fayetteville

Arkansas West

1

University of Montana

Dahlberg Arena

Missoula

Montana West

1

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Thomas and Mack Center

Paradise

Nevada West

1

University of Southern California

Lyon Center

Los Angeles

California West

1

California State University, Fullerton

Titan Gym

Fullerton

California West

2

Stanford University

Maples Pavilion

Stanford

California West

2

University of Georgia

Georgia Coliseum (Stegeman Coliseum)

Athens

Georgia West

2

University of Washington

Hec Edmundson Pavilion

Seattle

Washington West

2

Long Beach State

University Gym (Gold Mine)

Long Beach

California

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 22 to March 24 at these sites: East Regional Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: Villanova University) Mideast Regional Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee) Midwest Regional Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas) West Regional Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada (Host: University of Nevada at Las Vegas)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held March 30 and March 31 in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Lakefront Arena, co-hosted by University of New Orleans & Tulane University.

Bids by state

The forty-eight teams came from thirty states, plus Washington, D.C. California and Texas had the most teams with four each. Twenty states did not have any teams receiving bids.

Bids State Teams 4

California

Long Beach St., Stanford, Cal St. Fullerton, Southern California 4

Texas

Stephen F. Austin, Lamar, Texas, Texas Tech 3

Tennessee

Tennessee Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt 3

Virginia