ASUN women's basketball tournament

The ASUN women's basketball tournament is a postseason tournament that determines which team receives the ASUN Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

ASUN women's basketball tournament
Conference basketball championship
SportBasketball
ConferenceASUN Conference
FormatSingle-elimination tournament
Current stadiumCampus sites
Played1986–1991 (as NSWAC Tournament)
1992–2001 (as TAAC Tournament)
2002–present (as ASUN Tournament)
Last contest2024
Current championFlorida Gulf Coast
Most championshipsFGCU (11)
Official websiteasunsports.org

The tournament was first held in 1986 by the New South Women's Athletic Conference, a women-only Division I conference. Following the 1990–91 basketball season, the NSWAC was absorbed by the Trans America Athletic Conference, with the TAAC incorporating all NSWAC statistics and records as its own. The conference changed its name to Atlantic Sun Conference in 2002, and rebranded itself as the ASUN Conference in 2016.[1]

History edit

For most of its history, the tournament was held at predetermined campus sites, a tradition which started with the inception of the women's tournament. From 2004-07, the tournament was played regularly at the Dothan Civic Center in Dothan, Alabama, though then-conference member Troy was the official host in 2004-05, and the city of Dothan was the host in 2006-07, after Troy had departed for the Sun Belt Conference. Starting in 2008, the tournament moved yet again, this time to Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by Lipscomb. In 2010, the tourney was moved to Macon, Georgia and was hosted by Mercer University through 2013. It then moved to Alico Arena on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University near Fort Myers, Florida for two seasons. The 2016 tournament began a new era for the event, with all games being held at campus sites. Since then, all games have been hosted by the higher seed of the teams involved, except for the 2021 edition. With the 2020–21 season dramatically affected by COVID-19, the ASUN chose to move its entire tournament to the campus of Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Results edit

Year Champions Score Runner-Up Venue
New South Women's Athletic Conference
1986 Florida A&M (1) 68–54 Georgia Southern Gaither Gym, Tallahassee, Florida
1987 Georgia Southern (1) 74–69 Florida A&M Hanner Fieldhouse, Statesboro, Georgia
1988 Georgia Southern (2) 73–66 Florida A&M Edmunds Center, DeLand, Florida
1989 Stetson (1) 72–65 Georgia Southern GSU Sports Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
1990 Georgia Southern (3) 71–70 FIU Golden Panther Arena, Miami, Florida
1991 Miami (FL) (1) 73–44 Florida A&M Gaither Gym, Tallahassee, Florida
Trans America Athletic Conference
1992 FIU (1) 88–78 Georgia Southern Hanner Fieldhouse, Statesboro, Georgia
1993 FIU (2) 77–52 Mercer Golden Panther Arena, Miami, Florida
1994 FIU (3) 89–67 Southeastern Louisiana University Center, Hammond, Louisiana
1995 FIU (4) 76–74 Southeastern Louisiana John Kresse Arena, Charleston, South Carolina
1996 Central Florida (1) 81–57 Florida Atlantic University Center, Hammond, Louisiana
1997 FIU (5) 91–71 Jacksonville State Edmunds Center, DeLand, Florida
1998 FIU (6) 86–50 Georgia State Golden Panther Arena, Miami, Florida
1999 Central Florida (2) 80–59 Jacksonville State GSU Sports Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
2000 Campbell (1) 66–49 Georgia State Pelham Civic Center, Pelham, Alabama
2001 Georgia State (1) 64–62 Campbell UCF Arena, Orlando, Florida
Atlantic Sun Conference
2002 Georgia State (2) 64–63 Florida Atlantic Trojan Arena, Troy, AL
2003 Georgia State (3) 80–63 Central Florida UCF Arena, Orlando, Florida
2004 Lipscomb (1) 64–62 Central Florida Dothan Civic Center, Dothan, Alabama
2005 Stetson (2) 88–62 Georgia State
2006 Florida Atlantic (1) 88–62 Gardner–Webb
2007 Belmont (1) 69–57 East Tennessee State
2008 East Tennessee State (1) 72–72 Jacksonville Allen Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
2009 East Tennessee State (2) 58–52 Jacksonville
2010 East Tennessee State (3) 63–62 North Florida University Center, Macon, Georgia
2011 Stetson (3) 69–50 Jacksonville
2012 Florida Gulf Coast (1) 67–39 Stetson
2013 Stetson (4) 70–64 Stetson
2014 Florida Gulf Coast (2) 72–70 Stetson Alico Arena, Fort Myers, Florida
2015 Florida Gulf Coast (3) 60–43 Northern Kentucky
2016 Jacksonville (1) 56–54 Florida Gulf Coast
ASUN Conference
2017 Florida Gulf Coast (4) 77–70 Stetson Edmunds Center, DeLand, Florida
2018 Florida Gulf Coast (5) 68–58 Jacksonville Alico Arena, Fort Myers, Florida
2019 Florida Gulf Coast (6) 72–49 Liberty
2020 Tournament canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic[2][3]
2021 Florida Gulf Coast (7)[4] 84–62 Liberty KSU Convocation Center, Kennesaw, Georgia
2022 Florida Gulf Coast (8) 69–54 Jacksonville State Campus sites
2023 Florida Gulf Coast (9) 84–60 Liberty
2024 Florida Gulf Coast (10) 76–47 Central Arkansas

Champions edit

School Titles Years
Florida Gulf Coast
11
2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020Co, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
FIU
6
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998
Stetson
4
1989, 2005, 2011, 2013
East Tennessee State
3
2008, 2009, 2010
Georgia State
3
2001, 2002, 2003
Georgia Southern
3
1987, 1988, 1990
UCF
2
1996, 1999
Jacksonville
1
2016
Belmont
1
2007
Lipscomb
1
2004
Campbell
1
2000
Florida Atlantic
1
2006
Miami (FL)
1
1991
Florida A&M
1
1986
Liberty
1
2020Co

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "ASUN Conference Women's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). asunsports.org. ASUN Conference. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  2. ^ FGCU, Liberty, semi-finalists, named as co-champions of tournament
  3. ^ Carmany, Paul (2020-09-25). "Lady Flames Announce Revamped 2020-21 ASUN WBB Schedule". WSLS. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  4. ^ "No. 21 FGCU Defeats Liberty to Capture the 2021 #ASUNMadness Championship". ASUN Conference. 2021-03-14. Retrieved 2021-04-30.