1985 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament


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, 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 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 attempt 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.

Qualifying teams - at-large

Fourteen additional teams were selected to complete the thirty-two invitations.

Bids by conference

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.
BidsStateTeams
4CaliforniaLong Beach St, San Diego St, Southern California, UCLA
4TennesseeMemphis, Middle Tenn, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech
2LouisianaNortheast La., Louisiana Tech
2MississippiOle Miss, Southern Miss
2North CarolinaNorth Carolina St, North Carolina
2PennsylvaniaPenn St, St Joseph’s
2VirginiaOld Dominion, Virginia
1AlabamaAuburn
1GeorgiaGeorgia
1IdahoIdaho
1IllinoisIllinois St
1KentuckyWestern Ky
1MassachusettsHoly Cross
1MichiganWestern Mich
1MissouriMissouri
1NevadaUNLV
1New YorkSyracuse
1OhioOhio St
1TexasTexas
1UtahBYU
1WashingtonWashington

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.
RegionHostVenueCityState
EastOhio State UniversitySt. John ArenaColumbusOhio
EastOld Dominion UniversityOld Dominion University FieldhouseNorfolkVirginia
EastNorth Carolina State UniversityReynolds ColiseumRaleighNorth Carolina
EastPennsylvania State UniversityRecreation Building University ParkPennsylvania
MideastUniversity of TennesseeStokely Athletic CenterKnoxvilleTennessee
MideastUniversity of TexasFrank Erwin CenterAustinTexas
MideastWestern Kentucky UniversityE.A. Diddle ArenaBowling GreenKentucky
MideastUniversity of Mississippi Tad Smith ColiseumOxfordMississippi
MidwestAuburn UniversityMemorial Coliseum AuburnAlabama
MidwestLouisiana Tech UniversityThomas Assembly CenterRustonLouisiana
MidwestNortheast Louisiana UniversityEwing ColiseumMonroeLouisiana
MidwestUniversity of Nevada, Las VegasThomas and Mack CenterLas VegasNevada
WestUniversity of GeorgiaGeorgia Coliseum AthensGeorgia
WestLong Beach StateUniversity Gym Long BeachCalifornia
WestUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaLos AngelesCalifornia
WestUniversity of WashingtonHec Edmundson PavilionSeattleWashington

Regionals and Final Four

The Regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 21 to March 24 at these sites:
Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four held March 29 and March 31 in Austin, Texas at the Frank Erwin Center

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, TX ([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 32
Sweet
Sixteen
Elite
Eight
Final
Four
Championship
Game
Southeastern4.66744211
Western Collegiate4.556441
Atlantic Coast3.25011
Sun Belt2.88922221
Atlantic 102.33311
Metro2
Ohio Valley2
Southland1.7501111
Big Ten1.667111
Independent1.667111
Southwest1.50011

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