1987 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

Notable events

Upsets were not unknown in the NCAA tournaments. For example, in the prior year, two 4 seeds made it to the Final Four. However, in the first five NCAA tournaments, once a team reached the Final Four, no team had beaten a higher seeded team. That changed in 1987.

One semifinal game matched defending National Champion Texas against Louisiana Tech. Although both teams were 1 seeds, the Texas team came into the tournament with only a single regular season loss, earning them the number one ranking in the country. In addition, the Final Four was played on the home court of the Longhorns. Despite that, and a crowd of over 15 thousand, the largest crowd in the history of the sport, the Louisiana Tech team managed to beat the Texas team 79–75. The Lady Techsters hit 58.3% of their field goals, the fourth best performance in NCAA Final Four history, and a blistering 73.9% in the second half, missing only six of the 23 shots taken in the second half. Texas tried to wear down Teresa Weatherspoon, but set an NCAA Final Four record with eleven assists, while putting in 19 points of her own.

The other semifinal game matched 2 seed Tennessee against 1 seed Long Beach State. Although Long Beach was averaging over 96 points per game, and had scored 102 in the West Regional final against Ohio State, the Lady Vols held the team to 64 points, and upset the 1 seed by a score of 74–64.

The lone loss by Texas in the regular season had been to Tennessee, ending the Longhorns 40 game win streak, but the two teams played again two weeks later, and this time Texas emerged victorious, with a 14-point victory. Tennessee earned the number one ranking in the AP vote after the win over Texas, but they began to stumble after the loss to Texas, with losses to Auburn, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. They played Louisiana Tech in February, and the lady Techsters won by nine points, dropping the Lady Vols to ninth in the poll. The Tennessee team earned a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but after their upset win against Long Beach, they faced the Louisiana Tech team again, a team that had beaten the Volunteers in 11 of the last 12 meetings. One of those meetings had been the 1981 AIAW National Championship game, when the Lady Techsters beat the Volunteers by 20 points. The 1987 Championship would turn that result on its head, as Tennessee won by 23 points, upsetting Louisiana Tech 67–44, for their first National Championship.

This was the last time Stanford did not appear in the NCAA Tournament until 2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

Records

Teresa Weatherspoon recorded 11 assists in the National Semifinal game, the most scored in a Final Four game since they started keeping records of this statistic in 1985.

Qualifying teams – automatic

Forty teams were selected to participate in the 1987 NCAA Tournament. Eighteen conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA tournament.

Qualifying teams – at-large

Twenty-two additional teams were selected to complete the forty invitations.

Bids by conference

Nineteen conferences earned an automatic bid. In eleven cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Nineteen at-large teams were selected from eight of the conferences. In addition, two independent (not associated with an athletic conference) teams earned at-large bids.

First and second rounds

In 1987, the field remained at 40 teams. The teams were seeded, and assigned to four geographic regions, with seeds 1–10 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, while seeds 7 and 10 faced each other for the opportunity to face the 2 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:

• Eighth seeded South Alabama played nine seed Saint Joseph's (PA) at Saint Joseph's (PA)
• Seventh seeded Eastern Washington played tenth seeded University of Oregon at University of Oregon
• Second seeded Ohio State played tenth seeded University of Oregon at University of Oregon
• Third seeded North Carolina State played sixth seeded Villanova at Villanova

Because Oregon hosted both a first and second-round game, there were only 23 first and second round locations, rather than 24.

The following table lists the region, host school, venue and the twenty-four first round locations:

Regionals and Final Four

The regionals, named for the general location, were held from March 19 to March 22 at these sites:

• **Mideast Regional ** Stokely Athletics Center, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
• **Midwest Regional ** Ewing Coliseum, Monroe, Louisiana (Host: University of Louisiana at Monroe)
• **West Regional ** Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles (Host: University of Southern California)
• **East Regional ** Cumberland County Memorial Arena, Fayetteville, North Carolina

Each regional champion advanced to the Final Four at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas served as the host institution.

Bids by state

The forty teams came from twenty states. Louisiana and Tennessee had the most teams with four each. Thirty states did not have any teams receiving bids.

Brackets

First and second-round games played at higher seed except where noted.

East regional – Fayetteville, North Carolina (Cumberland County Memorial Arena)

March 11 March 13–15 March 19–20 March 21

| RD1-seed01=8 | RD1-team01=South Alabama | RD1-score01=56 | RD1-seed02=9 | RD1-team02=at St. Joseph's | RD1-score02=67* | RD1-seed09=7 | RD1-team09=Duke | RD1-score09=70 | RD1-seed10=10 | RD1-team10=Manhattan | RD1-score10=55

| RD2-seed01=9 | RD2-team01=St. Joseph's | RD2-score01=56 | RD2-seed02=1 | RD2-team02=Texas | RD2-score02=86 | RD2-seed03=5 | RD2-team03=Vanderbilt | RD2-score03=60 | RD2-seed04=4 | RD2-team04=James Madison | RD2-score04=68 | RD2-seed05=7 | RD2-team05=Duke | RD2-score05=64 | RD2-seed06=2 | RD2-team06=Rutgers | RD2-score06=78 | RD2-seed07=3 | RD2-team07=North Carolina State | RD2-score07=68 | RD2-seed08=6 | RD2-team08=at Villanova | RD2-score08=67

| RD3-seed01=1 | RD3-team01=Texas | RD3-score01=91 | RD3-seed02=4 | RD3-team02=James Madison | RD3-score02=57 | RD3-seed03=2 | RD3-team03=Rutgers | RD3-score03=75 | RD3-seed04=3 | RD3-team04=North Carolina State | RD3-score04=60

| RD4-seed01=1 | RD4-team01=Texas | RD4-score01=85 | RD4-seed02=2 | RD4-team02=Rutgers | RD4-score02=77 | |* Overtime

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

March 11 March 13–15 March 19–20 March 22

| RD1-seed01=8 | RD1-team01=Northwestern | RD1-score01=62 | RD1-seed02=9 | RD1-team02=Kansas State | RD1-score02=61* | RD1-seed09=7 | RD1-team09=Kansas | RD1-score09=78 | RD1-seed10=10 | RD1-team10=Northeast Louisiana | RD1-score10=72

| RD2-seed01=8 | RD2-team01=Northwestern | RD2-score01=60 | RD2-seed02=1 | RD2-team02=Louisiana Tech | RD2-score02=82 | RD2-seed03=5 | RD2-team03=Southern Illinois | RD2-score03=70 | RD2-seed04=4 | RD2-team04=LSU | RD2-score04=56 | RD2-seed05=7 | RD2-team05=Kansas | RD2-score05=51 | RD2-seed06=2 | RD2-team06=Georgia | RD2-score06=82 | RD2-seed07=3 | RD2-team07=Iowa | RD2-score07=68 | RD2-seed08=6 | RD2-team08=New Orleans | RD2-score08=46

| RD3-seed01=1 | RD3-team01=Louisiana Tech | RD3-score01=66 | RD3-seed02=5 | RD3-team02=Southern Illinois | RD3-score02=53 | RD3-seed03=2 | RD3-team03=Georgia | RD3-score03=60 | RD3-seed04=3 | RD3-team04=Iowa | RD3-score04=62

| RD4-seed01=1 | RD4-team01=Louisiana Tech | RD4-score01=66 | RD4-seed02=3 | RD4-team02=Iowa | RD4-score02=65

Mideast regional – University of Tennessee – Knoxville, Tennessee ([[Stokely Athletic Center]])

March 11 March 13–15 March 19–20 March 22

| RD1-seed01=8 | RD1-team01=Illinois | RD1-score01=80 | RD1-seed02=9 | RD1-team02=Bowling Green | RD1-score02=64 | RD1-seed09=7 | RD1-team09=Tennessee Tech | RD1-score09=78 | RD1-seed10=10 | RD1-team10=Southern Mississippi | RD1-score10=66

| RD2-seed01=8 | RD2-team01=Illinois | RD2-score01=58 | RD2-seed02=1 | RD2-team02=Auburn | RD2-score02=92 | RD2-seed03=5 | RD2-team03=Old Dominion | RD2-score03=76 | RD2-seed04=4 | RD2-team04=North Carolina | RD2-score04=58 | RD2-seed05=7 | RD2-team05=Tennessee Tech | RD2-score05=59 | RD2-seed06=2 | RD2-team06=Tennessee | RD2-score06=95 | RD2-seed07=3 | RD2-team07=Virginia | RD2-score07=76 | RD2-seed08=6 | RD2-team08=Memphis State | RD2-score08=75

| RD3-seed01=1 | RD3-team01=Auburn | RD3-score01=77 | RD3-seed02=5 | RD3-team02=Old Dominion | RD3-score02=61 | RD3-seed03=2 | RD3-team03=Tennessee | RD3-score03=66 | RD3-seed04=3 | RD3-team04=Virginia | RD3-score04=58

| RD4-seed01=1 | RD4-team01=Auburn | RD4-score01=61 | RD4-seed02=2 | RD4-team02=Tennessee | RD4-score02=77

West regional – University of Southern California – Los Angeles ([[Pauley Pavilion]])

March 11 March 13–15 March 19–20 March 22

| RD1-seed01=8 | RD1-team01=Washington | RD1-score01=86 | RD1-seed02=9 | RD1-team02=New Mexico State | RD1-score02=73 | RD1-seed09=7 | RD1-team09=Eastern Washington | RD1-score09=56 | RD1-seed10=10 | RD1-team10=at Oregon | RD1-score10=75

| RD2-seed01=8 | RD2-team01=Washington | RD2-score01=57 | RD2-seed02=1 | RD2-team02=Long Beach State | RD2-score02=72 | RD2-seed03=5 | RD2-team03=Penn State | RD2-score03=75 | RD2-seed04=4 | RD2-team04=Ole Miss | RD2-score04=80 | RD2-seed05=10 | RD2-team05=at Oregon | RD2-score05=62 | RD2-seed06=2 | RD2-team06=Ohio State | RD2-score06=76 | RD2-seed07=3 | RD2-team07=USC | RD2-score07=81 | RD2-seed08=6 | RD2-team08=Western Kentucky | RD2-score08=69

| RD3-seed01=1 | RD3-team01=Long Beach State | RD3-score01=94 | RD3-seed02=4 | RD3-team02=Ole Miss | RD3-score02=55 | RD3-seed03=2 | RD3-team03=Ohio State | RD3-score03=74 | RD3-seed04=3 | RD3-team04=USC | RD3-score04=63

| RD4-seed01=1 | RD4-team01=Long Beach State | RD4-score01=102 | RD4-seed02=2 | RD4-team02=Ohio State | RD4-score02=82

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

March 27 March 29 | RD1-seed1=1E | RD1-team1=Texas | RD1-score1=75 | RD1-seed2=1MW | RD1-team2=Louisiana Tech | RD1-score2=79 | RD1-seed3=2ME | RD1-team3=Tennessee | RD1-score3=74 | RD1-seed4=1W | RD1-team4=Long Beach State | RD1-score4=64

| RD2-seed1=1MW | RD2-team1=Louisiana Tech | RD2-score1=44 | RD2-seed2=2ME | RD2-team2=Tennessee | RD2-score2=67

Record by conference

Fifteen conferences had more than one bid, or at least one win in NCAA Tournament play:

Six conferences went 0-1: Big East, Gulf Star Conference, High Country, MAAC, MAC, and Mountain West

All-Tournament team

• Tonya Edwards, Tennessee,
• Bridgette Gordon, Tennessee
• Cindy Brown, Long Beach St.
• Clarissa Davis, Texas
• Teresa Weatherspoon, Louisiana Tech

Game officials

• Bill Stokes (semifinal)
• Larry Sheppard (semifinal)
• June Courteau (Semi-Final, Final)
• Patty Broderick (Semi-Final, Final)

References

References

1. Gregory Cooper. "1987 NCAA National Championship Tournament".
2. "CHN Basketball History: Most Outstanding Player".
3. "Attendance and Sites". NCAA.
4. HOWARD-COOPER, SCOTT. (March 28, 1987). "Top-Ranked Longhorns Get Hook : Louisiana Tech Upsets Defending Champion Texas, 79-75". LA Times.
5. (March 28, 1987). "Texas Upset, 79-75". New York Times.
6. Diaz, Jaime. "1987: Finally First Prize At The Big Dance". CNNSI.
7. (November 10, 2011). "Tennessee Media Guide".
8. Nixon, Rick. "Official 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four Records Book". NCAA.