2015 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2015 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played between March and April 2015, with the Final Four played April 5 & 7. The regional locations, after a one-year experiment allowing tournament teams to host, returned to four neutral sites: Oklahoma City, Spokane, Greensboro and Albany. The Garden Island. Retrieved 2014-3-17. The subregionals were played 20–23 March, while the regionals were played 27–30 March. This represented a change; in the past, the rounds were played starting on a Saturday and ending on a Tuesday. In 2015, the opening rounds and regionals (but not the Final Four) were played starting on a Friday and ending on a Monday. The Final Four was played at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. For only the third time in history, all four of the number one seeds made it to the Final Four.

Tennessee continued its record streak of making every NCAA women's basketball tournament at 34 consecutive appearances. UConn also continued its record streak of eight consecutive Final Four appearances.

Tournament procedure

Pending any changes to the format, a total of 64 teams will enter the 2016 tournament. 32 automatic bids shall be awarded to each program that wins their conference's tournament. The remaining 36 bids are "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 basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.

The selection committee assigned seeds to the entire field from 1 to 64.

Schedule and venues The subregionals were played from 20–23 March 2015.

The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus. The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2015 tournament:

First and Second Rounds (Subregionals) March 20 and 22 Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, California (Host: California) Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: South Carolina) Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State) Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina (Host: Duke) Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: Iowa) Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: Kentucky) Edmund P. Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Indiana (Host: Notre Dame) Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor) March 21 and 23 Carmichael Arena, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina) Xfinity Center, College Park, Maryland (Host: Maryland) Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: Tennessee) Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California (Host: Stanford) Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: Connecticut) Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, Florida (Host: Florida State) USF Sun Dome, Tampa, Florida (Host: South Florida) Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 27 and 29 Oklahoma City Regional, Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City Host: Oklahoma and OKC All Sports Association Greensboro Regional, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina Host: ACC March 28 and 30 Spokane Regional, Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington Host: Washington State Albany Regional, Times Union Center, Albany, New York Host: Siena College MAAC

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) April 5 and 7 Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida, Host: South Florida.

This was the second time that Tampa had hosted a Women's Final Four Basketball tournament; the prior time was in 2008.

Subregionals tournament & automatic qualifiers

Automatic qualifiers The following teams automatically qualified for the 2015 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bidACCNotre Dame22nd2014America EastAlbany4th2014AmericanConnecticut27th2014Atlantic 10George Washington16th2003Atlantic SunFlorida Gulf Coast3rd2014Big 12Baylor14th2014Big EastDePaul20th2014Big SkyMontana21st2013Big SouthLiberty16th2013Big TenMaryland23rd2014Big WestCal State Northridge3rd2014ColonialJames Madison11th2014C-USAWestern Kentucky18th2014HorizonGreen Bay15th2013Ivy LeaguePrinceton5th2013MAACQuinnipiac2nd2013MACOhio3rd1995MEACSavannah State1stNeverMissouri ValleyWichita State3rd2014Mountain WestBoise State3rd2007NortheastSt. Francis Brooklyn1stNeverOhio ValleyTennessee State3rd1995Pac-12Stanford29th2014PatriotAmerican1stNeverSECSouth Carolina12th2014SouthernChattanooga13th2014SouthlandNorthwestern State4th2014SWACAlabama State2nd2003SummitSouth Dakota State6th2013Sun BeltArkansas-Little Rock4th2012West CoastBYU11th2014WACNew Mexico State3rd1988

Tournament seeds +Albany Regional+Times Union Center, AlbanySeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1UConnAmerican32–15Automatic2KentuckySEC23–98At-large3LouisvilleACC25–67At-large4CaliforniaPac-1223–924At-large5TexasBig 1222–1021At-large6South FloridaAmerican26–726At-large7DaytonAtlantic 1025–613At-large8RutgersBig Ten22–943At-large9Seton HallBig East28–539At-large10Iowa StateBig 1218–1257At-large11LSUSEC17–1358At-large12Western KentuckyConference USA30–428Automatic13Wichita StateMissouri Valley29–437Automatic14BYUWest Coast23–951Automatic15Tennessee StateOhio Valley18–12157Automatic16St. Francis BrooklynNortheast15–18244Automatic+Spokane Regional +Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, SpokaneSeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1MarylandBig Ten30–26Automatic2TennesseeSEC27–52At-large3Oregon StatePac-1226–419At-large4DukeACC21–1015At-large5Mississippi StateSEC26–631At-large6George WashingtonAtlantic 1029–311Automatic7ChattanoogaSouthern29–320Automatic8PrincetonIvy League30–012Automatic9Green BayHorizon28–422Automatic10PittsburghACC19–1141At-large11GonzagaWest Coast24–740At-large12TulaneAmerican22–1052At-large13AlbanyAmerica East24–877Automatic14South Dakota StateSummit24–847Automatic15Boise StateMountain West22–10112Automatic16New Mexico StateWAC22–797Automatic+Oklahoma City Regional +Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma CitySeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1Notre DameACC31–21Automatic2BaylorBig 1230–34Automatic3IowaBig Ten24–79At-large4StanfordPac-1224–918Automatic5OklahomaBig 1220–1123At-large6WashingtonPac-1223–933At-large7NorthwesternBig Ten23–834At-large8MinnesotaBig Ten23–944At-large9DePaulBig East26–738Automatic10ArkansasSEC17–1342At-large11Miami (FL)ACC19–1265At-large12QuinnipiacMAAC31–325Automatic13Cal State NorthridgeBig West23–970Automatic14AmericanPatriot24–849Automatic15Northwestern StateSouthland19–14191Automatic16MontanaBig Sky24–888Automatic+Greensboro Regional+Greensboro Coliseum, GreensboroSeedSchoolConferenceRecordRPIBerth type1South CarolinaSEC30–23Automatic2Florida StateACC29–410At-large3Arizona StatePac-1227–517At-large4North CarolinaACC24–816At-large5Ohio StateBig Ten23–1030At-large6Texas A&MSEC23–932At-large7Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun30–214Automatic8SyracuseACC21–935At-large9NebraskaBig Ten21–1036At-large10Oklahoma StateBig 1220–1146At-large11Arkansas–Little RockSun Belt28–429Automatic12James MadisonColonial29–327Automatic13LibertyBig South26–663Automatic14OhioMAC27–450Automatic15Alabama StateSWAC17–14250Automatic16Savannah StateMEAC21–10138Automatic

Tournament records Most three-point field goals—Connecticut hit 54 three-pointers over the course of the tournament, the most ever recorded in a tournament. Stanford set a new record in 2021 with  59 three point field goals.

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04).

Albany Regional – Albany, New York

First round

Alexis Govan and Chastity Gooch combined for 45 points, as Western Kentucky sunk a school record 12 threes, while putting a scare into Texas; however, Texas managed to escape with two free throws from Brooke McCarty with 20.8 seconds remaining to put Texas ahead for good 66–64. Rutgers managed to knock out in-state rival, Seton Hall, behind 21 points each from Kahleah Copper and Tyler Scaife. Rutgers managed to keep Seton Hall to 35.9% shooting; however, the game was largely lost when Seton Hall shot just 12–23 from the Free Throw line, as Daisha Simmons fell to her former team in her penultimate season. Kentucky easily defeated Tennessee State 97–52, with six Wildcats scoring in double digits. After each team scored three points, Kentucky scored 16 consecutive to build a lead they would never relinquish. Dayton pulled out to a seventeen-point lead in the second half. Iowa State cut the lead back to seven points with under three minutes remaining, but could not get any closer, and the Flyers went on to win 78–66. Dayton's Ally Malott scored 18 points and recorded 12 rebounds to help the Flyers win. California and Wichita State were tied at eight points each, and Wichita State was within two points with under five minutes to go in the first half, but the Golden Bears opened up a ten-point lead at halftime over the Shockers. Wichita State would get as close to within four points, but California then extended the lead and ended with a twelve-point win 78–66. Cal's Reshanda Gray scored 22 points and left the game to a standing ovation. Connecticut's Morgan Tuck did not play in the prior year's NCAA Tournament, but made up for it in the first game of this year's tournament. She had 20 points in the first half, single-handedly outscoring St. Francis. She ended up hitting 12 of her 13 shots. Sarah Benedetti, who grew up in Canton, Connecticut as a UConn fan, was the high scorer for St. Francis with 13 points. The school was playing tin their first ever NCAA Tournament. The Huskies won with a final score of 89–33. Louisville's Myisha Hines-Allen scored 19 points for the Cardinals. Louisville forced 30 turnovers which lead to 38 points, and the Cardinals beat BYU 86–53. Normally, the game between South Florida and LSU would have been held on the court of the 3 seed Louisville but the Cardinals had a scheduling conflict so South Florida hosted. Courtney Williams, playing on her home court had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, leading her team to a nine-point victory over LSU 73–64.

Second round

Kentucky forced 24 turnovers against Dayton, but the Flyers hit 11 three-pointers to help overcome the lost possessions. Kentucky held a three-point lead at halftime, which they opened up to eight points, but Dayton responded. With the score tied at 87 points each with just over a minute to go, Dayton's Kelley Austria hit a three points. Kentucky hit two free throws, then Dayton's Amber Deane hit a three with 30 seconds left in the game. Kentucky was forced to foul but Dayton hit their last six free throw attempts to preserve the upset with a score of 99–94. The 4 and 5 seeds, Texas and California, played on Cal's home court. At the end of the half, the two teams were tied. The Longhorns opened the second half with a 12–0 run, but the Golden Bears closed within 4 points with 90 seconds to go in the game. But Kelsey Lang scored at the other end. Imani McGee-Stafford had a double-double for the Longhorns with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Texas held on to win 73–70, sending the team to their first Sweet Sixteen in eleven years.