Senda Berenson publishes the first issue of Basketball Guide for Women, which she would edit and update for eighteen years. These rules, with minor modifications, would remain in use until the 1960s.[5]
Stanford abolishes intercollegiate competition of women. (The players formed an independent club team).[16]
Senda Berenson
University of California-Berkeley women's basketball team, photographed in 1899
Clara Gregory Baer's original rules of Newcomb ball
The Edmonton Grads, then known as the Commercial High School basketball team, won the Intercollegiate Basketball League. They would go on to play as the Grads, with a record of 502–20 between 1915 and 1940.[18] James Naismith would go on to refer to them as "the finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor".[19]
RULE Change—the first time a guard, called a "rover" was allowed to play the entire court[25]
The All American Red Heads Team a barnstorming professional team was formed. They were the first professional women's basketball team. They would go on to tour the country for 50 years, playing men's teams using men's rules.[26][27]
RULE Change—Full court, five player game instituted for first time for collegiate and AAU games. A thirty-second shot clock was also implemented.[8]
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) formed to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships. The transition from the CIAW to the AIAW covered a ten-month period starting in April 1971.[41]
UBC Thunderbirds won the inaugural Bronze Baby, awarded to the winner of the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU; now U Sports) women's basketball tournament.[43]
The first nationally televised game is played by Maryland and Immaculata. Some sources report that Immaculata won 80–48,[45][46] while others report 85–63.[47][48]
First Wade Trophy awarded to the best women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition The first recipient was Carol Blazejowski.[55]
RULE Change—The ball circumference for NCAA play is reduced by one inch (to 28.5–29 inches) compared to the ball used previously, and used by men. This size ball is also called size 6.[8]
RULE Change—The alternating possession arrow is first used, although a jump ball is still used at the beginning of the game, and the beginning of overtime. Coaches must stay within coaching box, and only the head coach may stand while the ball is live[8]
RULE Change—The three-point field goal is introduced for any field goal completed when shot beyond a line set at 19 feet, and 9 inches from the center of the basket.[8]
The WNBA is founded, with eight initial teams. Sheryl Swoopes is the first player signed.[75]
The American Basketball League (ABL) formed, a professional basketball league for women in the United States. It lasted two full seasons, and suspended operations in the third.[76][77]
Connecticut had their 89th consecutive victory, one more than the all-time NCAA men's wins record of 88 held by UCLA;[102] the streak ended at 90 wins.[103][104]
Before the start of the 2013–14 season, the NCAA adopts the 10-second backcourt limit for the first time. Prior to this change, NCAA women's basketball was the only level of basketball in the world that did not have a backcourt possession time limit.[111]
This was the last event known as the "FIBA World Championship for Women". Shortly after the 2014 edition, the competition was renamed the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.[114]
On August 5, Becky Hammon, set to retire at the end of the 2014 WNBA season as a player with the San Antonio Stars, was hired as an assistant by the city's NBA team, the Spurs, effective with her retirement from play. Hammon became the first woman to be hired as a full-time coach in any of North America's four major professional leagues.[118]
With their eleventh championship win in 2016, the UConn Huskies (38–0) passed the UCLA Bruins men's team for most college basketball championships, and became the first Division 1 women's basketball team to win four straight national championships.[127]
Breanna Stewart was named the AP Player Of The Year (making her the first female college basketball player to win that award three times)[128]
Breanna Stewart was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four (making her the first person to be most outstanding player of the Final Four four times)[129]
The UConn Huskies women's basketball team obtained the longest winning streak in college basketball (both men's and women's), 111 straight wins, which started with a win against Creighton on December 23, 2014, and continued for 111 games until March 31, 2017, when they were beaten 66–64 on a last second shot in overtime by Mississippi State in the 2017 NCAA Final Four. This streak included an undefeated season in 2015–16.[133]
All NCAA postseason tournaments were canceled due to COVID-19.[150]
After Gregg Popovich was ejected in the second quarter in the Spurs' 121–107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on December 30, 2020, Becky Hammon became the first female acting head coach in NBA history.[151]
The NCAA Division III championship was canceled.[155]
Starting with the 2021–22 season, the three-point line in US college women's basketball was moved to the FIBA distance, a change that had been made in men's basketball for NCAA Division I in 2019–20 and other NCAA divisions in 2020–21.
Hall, M (2011). The Grads are playing tonight! : the story of the Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. ISBN978-0-88864-602-6.
Hult, Joan S.; Trekell, Marianna (1991). A Century of women's basketball : from frailty to final four. Reston, Va: National Association for Girls and Women in Sport. ISBN978-0-88314-490-9.
Ikard, Robert W. (2005). Just for Fun: The Story of AAU Women's Basketball. The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN978-1-55728-889-9.
