1980:
Ladies Professional Basketball Association (LPBA). Teams: New Mexico Energee, Oakland, Phoenix Flames, San Jose Chips, Southern California Breeze, Tucson Storm. Played part of one month and folded.
AIAW: ODU defeats Tennessee 68-53. 3rd South Carolina, 4th Louisiana Tech.
US does not compete in the Moscow Olympics.
Carol Blazejowski is named recipient of first USA Basketball Female Athlete Of The Year Award.
January 22: Bettye McClendon becomes the first female to officiate a men's game (Morris Brown vs. Clark College). Three years earlier she became the first female to officiate a girls high school state championship in Georgia. McClendon was also Georgia's first female track and field starter. She also was the first female to officiate NCAA Division II women's basketball tournaments. In 2006 she was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, along with Lea Henry-Manning who was the starting point guard for the gold medal-winning 1984 US Olympic team.(Source: Macon Telegraph).
1981:
January 23: Annette Kennedy of SUNY-Purchase sets an AIAW record with 70 points in her team's 116-21 win over the Pratt Institute.
February 13: In front of 53 spectators at Philadelphia's Murrell Dobbins Tech, Linda Page scored 100 points in a 131-37 destruction of Jules Mastbaum Tech. She was 41-for-58 (71 percent) from the floor, 18-for-21 (86 percent) in free throws, had 19 rebounds, five assists and seven steals. She also had six three-point plays - that's a made basket plus a free throw as the three-point shot wouldn't be allowed for seven more years. Oh, it also happened to be Friday the 13th. The next day, the Philadelphia Daily News ran the headline "Sixers Could've Used Page" and featured a photo of Page next to Philadelphia 76ers star Julius Erving on the front page. Page was then introduced at that evening's NBA game at center court while standing next to Erving. She would then go on to break Wilt Chamberlains high school career scoring record (2,206 career points) with 2,383 points as well as his senior scoring average record (44.5 points) with an average of 48.2 points per game. She would go on to play at North Carolina State where she ended her career with 2,307 points and a place in the school's records books - some of those records still stand today. (source: Philadelphia Daily News, 2006.)
November 17: Orna Ostfeld of Maccabi Ramat-Chen in the Israeli league, scores 108 points in a 221-21 win, setting the record for most points scored by a player in a women's professional game.
AAU having lost status as Olympic training ground, begins offering tournaments for 12-and-under.
Nebraska Wranglers win 3rd, and last, WBL championship.
Lynnette Woodard finishes her career at the University of Kansas as women's college basketball's all-time leading scorer with 3,649 points (before the 3pt line). Note: The NCAA keeps the AIAW's records separate from its own.
5�9" Cardte Hicks (S.F. Pioneers of the WBL) dunks during warm ups before the all-star game.
AIAW: University of Oregon hosts championship. Louisiana Tech, defeats Tennessee 79-59. Old Dominion and Southern California are the other two participants.
First year of NAIA Women's National Championships.
NCAA decides to offer its own women�s basketball tournaments. The AIAW files antitrust suite against the NCAA, charging they don�t have the women�s best interests at heart. (NCAA had publicly opposed the passage of Title IX).
Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) formed. Their first convention is held in 1982 at Virginia Beach in conjunction with the NCAA tournament. 100 coaches attend.
1982:
AIAW: University of Pennsylvania hosts final tournament. Rutgers defeats University of Texas. 3rd Wayland Baptist, 4th Villanova. The AIAW disbands and dismisses antitrust suit against the NCAA.
First NCAA-sponsored Division I women�s basketball Final Four championship held at Old Dominion University. CBS televised the game as Louisiana Tech (def. Tennessee) defeated Cheyney State (def. Maryland) 76-62. The championship was a 32-team bracket, with first-round games at home sites of top seeds, followed by four regional tournaments. All-Tournament team: Janice Lawrence, Louisiana Tech; Pam Kelly, Louisiana Tech; Valerie Walker, Cheyney; Kim Mulkey, Louisiana Tech; Yolanda Laney, Cheyney. Drake's Lorri Bauman sets record by scoring 50 points in a tournament game.
Springfield, MA: California Polytechnic University in Pomona, led by Jackie White defeats Tuskegee University (Alabama) in the first Division II national championship sponsored by the NCAA.
Elizabethtown College (PA) defeats Greensboro College (GA) in the first Division III national championship sponsored by the NCAA.
1983:
AAU adds in 16-and-under and 14-and-under age groups.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association and Naismith Player of the Year awards are given for the first time. Winner: ODU�s Ann Donovan. Tennessee�s Pat Summitt is the first Coach of the Year.
ESPN televises NCAA tournament games before the championship. CBS carries the final game.
NCAA Division I Championship: USC (def. Georgia) defeats Louisiana Tech (def. Old Dominion) 69-67.
Kodak/WBCA All-America teams for NCAA Division II and the NAIA, NCAA Division III, and junior colleges are added.
1984:
Rules: A smaller ball, about one inch less in circumference (becoming 28 1/2 to 29 inches) and two ounces lighter (18 to 20 ounces) than the previous ball, is approved.
December 21: West Virginia's Georgeann Wells (6�7" junior) dunks in a game against the University of Charleston, making her the first woman to dunk in a collegiate game. She repeats the feat when the Mountaineers played Xavier a few games later. Inducted into Phi Slama Jama, the dunking fraternity, the ball is now in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
WABA, another attempt at women�s professional league forms. Nancy Lieberman is a member, but the league folds. Teams: Atlanta Comets, Chicago Spirit, Columbus Minks, Dallas Diamonds, Houston Shamrocks, Virginia Wave.
NCAA Division I Championship: Tournament expanded from 32 to 40 teams. Held in Los Angeles. USC (def. Louisiana Tech) defeated Tennessee (def. Cheyney State) 72-61. MVP: Cheryl Miller.
USA captures its first Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles under coach Pat Head Summitt of the University of Tennessee.
Darlene May becomes the first female to officiate an Olympic women�s basketball game when she worked an early round between South Korea and Australia. She also officiated the Bronze Medal game between China and Canada. In 1996 Cal Poly Pomona, where she had been coach of the women's basketball team for 20 years, named the women's gym after her.
Women�s American Basketball formed: Players include Nancy Lieberman, Molly Bolin, Pam McGee and Carla McGee, but most of the league's teams fold during the first season.
1985:
NCAA Women�s Basketball Rules Committee is formed. Rule changes: Offensive fouls only are on the player with ball-not the entire team. Fumble, dribble, fumble is allowed. Bottom lane space on free throw must be filled-no longer optional.
NCAA Division I Championship: Old Dominion (def. Northeast Louisiana-Monroe) defeats Georgia (def. Western Kentucky) 70-65.
First women are inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Senda Berenson Abbott, Margaret Wade, Bertha F. Teague.
Inaugural Women�s Junior World Championships held in Colorado Springs. Soviet Union wins title, US finishes fifth.
Lynette Woodard first woman to play with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Kodak/WBCA adds separate All-America teams for NCAA Division II and the NAIA athletes.
Iowa: First five-player state tournament. Schools may select either five- or six-player game. The six-player game continues until 1993.
1986:
Rules: Coaches must stay in the coaching box and may not leave without the chance of a technical foul. Alternating possession arrow is introduced-jump ball to start game and overtimes. Only head coach may stand during live ball.
National Women's Basketball Association formed. The league signs WBL star Molly Bolin, but doesn�t make it to the first season.
Nancy Lieberman becomes the first woman to play in a men's professional basketball league when she plays for the USBL's Springfield Fame and Long Island Knights.
NCAA Division I Championship: Texas (def. Western Kentucky ) defeats USC (def. Tennessee) 97-81. Jody Conradt, of the University of Texas, becomes first NCAA Division I women�s basketball coach to take a team undefeated in regular-season and postseason play and win the national.
Crystal Coleman of Bishop College sets record for points scored in a Division III tournament game with 50.
1987:
Rules: Three-point field goal is introduced and set at 19 feet, 9 inches from center of basket. No goal is allowed when a personal foul is committed by airborne shooter. Interrupted dribble is legal. Only the four marked lane spaces on the free-throw lane may be occupied.
AAU starts 13-and-under and 11-and-under programs.
Naismith Female High School Player of the Year award begun. Winner: Lynn Lorenzen of Ventura High School in Ventura, IA.
Naismith Coach of the Year is Pat Head Summitt, University of Tennessee.
NCAA Division I Championship: Tennessee (def. Long Beach State) defeats Louisiana Tech (def. Texas) 66-44.
Brazil's Hortencia sets the record for most points scored in a basketball game by a female professional with 121. The contest's final score was 251-27.
1988:
Inspired by issues of minority advancement, the Black Coaches Association (BCA) is founded.
AAU, begins organizing leagues and tournaments for girls 12 and up.
March 19: Claflin's Miriam Walker scores 62 points in a tournament game, setting the NAIA Division I record for points in a game.
NCAA Division I Championship: Louisiana Tech (def. Tennessee) defeats Auburn (def. Long Beach State) 56-54. LA Tech overcame a 14-point deficit to win - the largest comeback in championship history. Leon Barmore is first man to coach a women�s team to the national championship since Harley Redin�s Wayland Baptists teams and John Head�s Nashville Business teams dominated in the �50s and �60s.
Niki Bracken of Cal Poly-Pomona sets record for points scored in a Division II tournament game with 44.
United States Basketball Writers Association begins to name Women�s All-America Teams.
USA wins gold medal at the Seoul Olympics, coached by Kay Yow of North Carolina State University. Team invited by MTV to sing rap song composed by team member Cynthia Cooper.
Nancy Lieberman joins the Washington Generals on their tour with the Harlem Globetrotters.
1989:
Rules: Closely guarded distance while holding the ball is six feet, not three. Time-outs 75 seconds, not 60. Technical fouls of any kind are two shots.
NCAA Division I Championship: expands from 40 to 48 teams. Tennessee (def. Maryland) defeats Auburn (def. Louisiana Tech) 76-60.
The ABAUSA changes name to USA Basketball, based in Colorado Springs.