2006 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

2006 NCAA Women's Division I
Basketball Tournament

2006 Women's Final Four logo
Teams	64
Finals site	TD Garden Boston, Massachusetts
Champions	Maryland (1st title)
Runner-up	Duke (2nd title game)
Semifinalists	North Carolina (2nd Final Four) LSU (3rd Final Four)
Winning coach	Brenda Frese (1st title)
MOP	Laura Harper (Maryland)
NCAA Women's Division I Tournaments «2005 2007»

The 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, marked the 25th NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship. The events were held March 18 – April 4, 2006 at several sites, with the Championship game held in Boston. The Maryland Terrapins, coached by Brenda Frese, won their first National Championship, beating the Duke Blue Devils, coached by Gail Goestenkors, 78–75 in overtime. Laura Harper of the Terrapins was named Most Outstanding Player.

The field is set at 64 teams, with 31 automatic bids and 33 at-large bids. Unlike the men's game, there is no play-in game. In addition, the first two rounds and regionals are usually played on "neutral" sites.

This was the first Women's final four since 1999 not to have either Connecticut or Tennessee.

Notable events

In the Albuquerque Regional, Boston College upset the number one seed, Ohio State, in the second round. BC went on to play fifth seeded Utah in the regional semifinal, but Utah won by three points. Utah then played Maryland in the Regional final. With under eight seconds to go in regulation, Utah was trailing by a single point, with Shona Thorburn at the free throw line for two shots. She only made one, and the game went into overtime. This was familiar territory for the Terrapins, who were now playing in the fifth overtime game of their season. They had won the previous four, and would outscore Utah 12–2 to advance to the Final Four.

In the Bridgeport Regional, Connecticut won their first two games easily, then faced Georgia in their home state. The Huskies started out poorly, going without a single point for a stretch of over six minutes and were down 25–10 with under seven minutes to go in the first half. Then UConn scored 22 of the next 23 points to take a six-point lead. Georgia did not quit, and with seconds left, had a one-point lead. UConn had the ball and set up a last-ditch play. The play broke down, but Barbara Turner, not known as a three-point shooter, hit a three pointer to put Connecticut up by two points with under two seconds to play. Georgia took a desperation, length of the court shot which bounced off the rim, and Connecticut held on to advance to the regional final. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma was quoted as saying, "I told the guys in the locker room, there are times that if you are lucky, fate taps you on the shoulder and you are ready. And today, we were ready".

In the regional final, top seeded Duke faced second seed UConn. With Connecticut down by two points late in the game, the Huskies Mel Thomas hit a two pint jumper to tie the game at 55 points apiece. Duke had 20 seconds left to hit a shot to take the lead. They called a timeout to set up a play but it broke down, and they called a timeout with three seconds left. The inbound pass ended up near half court, where an attempted buzzer beater bounced off the backboard, and the game went into overtime. The Blue Devils pulled out to a five-point lead with under three minutes to go, but did not score another point. UConn had the ball for a final play, down by two points, but Charde Houston missed an open jumper, and Duke won the right to go to the Final Four in Boston.

The Cleveland Regional had the top four seeds in the regional semifinal, and the top two in the final, with top seed North Carolina beating Tennessee to advance to the final Four. It was their first trip to the Final Four for the Tarheels since 1994, when they had won the National Championship. The San Antonio Regional largely followed the seeding, although third-seeded Stanford upset Oklahoma to reach the regional final. Although top seeded LSU was down by five points at halftime, they came back to beat Stanford by three points to earn a trip to the Final Four. LSU had only a one-point lead, when Candice Wiggins drove to the basket but Seimone Augustus stood in the way and took a charge. Wiggins had passed the ball to Krista Rappahahn who hit a three-pointer, but it was waved off because of the charge.

LSU was one of just seven schools to place both their men's and women's basketball teams in the Final Four in the same year. But one night after the men lost by double-digits to UCLA, the women suffered the same fate. Duke had a double-digit lead at halftime, which LSU cut to six points, but Duke then went on an 11–1 run to build the lead back up. Duke won the game 64–55 to head to the championship game.

North Carolina entered the other semifinal against Maryland with only a single loss on the season, but that loss was to Maryland. The first half was close, with Maryland holding just a two-point lead at the half. The Terrapins extended the lead in the second half to double-digits, but North Carolina came back to cut the lead to three points with just over a minute left in the game. They would get no closer, and Maryland held on to win 81–70 to advance to the final game.

The semifinal wins set up an all-ACC championship game, between the two highest scoring teams in Division I. Duke had won 14 of the last 15 meetings between the two teams, but the sole win by Maryland in the streak was the most recent—the ACC semifinal match up. This game started as if it were a return to the usual results, with Duke reaching a double-digit lead at halftime, and extending to a 13-point lead in the second half. Maryland fought back, and with seconds to go in the game Kristi Toliver hit a three pointer to tie the game. The game went into overtime, the sixth time this season Maryland had been in an overtime game. The Terrapins had won all five prior overtimes games, and this would be no different. Although down in overtime, Toliver hit two free throws to put her team back in front, and Maryland held on to win their first National Championship.

Locations

West Lafayette

Nashville

University Park

Norfolk

Chicago

Denver

Tucson

Trenton

2006 NCAA NCAA first and second round venues

Albuquerque

Bridgeport

San Antonio

Cleveland

Boston

2006 NCAA Regionals and Final Four

The tournament once again used the pod system, meaning that teams were more likely to play closer to home earlier in the tournament. The sites for the first two rounds were as follows:

• March 18 and 20:

Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois (Host: DePaul University)

Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado (Host: University of Colorado at Boulder and Big 12 Conference)

McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)

Memorial Gymasium, Nashville, Tennessee (Host: Vanderbilt University)

• March 19 and 21:

Ted Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk, Virginia (Host: Old Dominion University)

Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, New Jersey (Host: Rider University and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pennsylvania (Host: Pennsylvania State University)

Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana (Host: Purdue University)

The Regional sites for this year (named after the city, a practice that is in use for the second consecutive year) were:

• March 25 and 27

Albuquerque Regional: The Pit, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Host: University of New Mexico)

San Antonio Regional: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)

• March 26 and 28

Bridgeport Regional: Bridgeport Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Connecticut (Host: Fairfield University)

Cleveland Regional: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio (Host: Cleveland State University and the Mid-American Conference)

The winners of the regionals advanced to the Final Four, held at TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts on April 2–4, 2006, hosted by Harvard University and Northeastern University.

Tournament records

• Free throws—Erlana Larkins, North Carolina attempted 15 free throws in the national semifinal game against Maryland, tied for the most number of free throws attempted in an NCAA semifinal game.
• Rebounds—Khara Smith, DePaul, recorded 47 rebounds in three games. The 15.7 rebounds per game is the most ever occurring in an NCAA Tournament.
• Rebounds—Duke recorded 292 rebounds, the most ever recorded by a single team in an NCAA Tournament.

Qualifying teams - automatic

Sixty-four teams were selected to participate in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Thirty-one conferences were eligible for an automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA tournament.

Automatic Bids
		Record
Qualifying School	Conference	Regular Season	Conference	Seed
United States Military Academy	Patriot League	20–10	11–3	15
Bowling Green State University	MAC	28–2	16–0	12
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga	Southern Conference	27–3	18–0	12
Coppin State University	MEAC	22–8	18–0	15
Dartmouth College	Ivy League	23–6	12–2	14
Florida International University	Atlantic Sun Conference	20–10	16–4	16
University of Hartford	America East	27–3	15–1	11
Liberty University	Big South Conference	24–5	13–1	13
Louisiana Tech University	WAC	26–4	15–1	11
Louisiana State University	SEC	27–3	13–1	1
Marist College	MAAC	23–6	16–2	14
Middle Tennessee State University	Sun Belt Conference	20–10	10–4	12
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee	Horizon League	21–8	14–2	13
Missouri State University	Missouri Valley Conference	17–14	7–11	13
University of North Carolina	ACC	29–1	13–1	1
Northern Arizona University	Big Sky Conference	22–10	9–5	14
Oakland University	Mid-Continent	15–15	8–8	16
Ohio State University	Big Ten	28–2	15–1	1
University of Oklahoma	Big 12	29–4	16–0	2
Old Dominion University	Colonial	22–8	17–1	10
Pepperdine University	West Coast Conference	14–16	8–6	15
Rutgers University	Big East	25–4	16–0	3
Sacred Heart University	Northeast Conference	26–4	16–2	15
Southeast Missouri State University	Ohio Valley Conference	20–8	16–4	14
Southern University	SWAC	20–10	14–4	16
Stanford University	Pac-10	23–7	15–3	3
Stephen F. Austin State University	Southland	23–7	14–2	13
Temple University	Atlantic 10	24–7	12–4	6
University of Tulsa	Conference USA	25–5	14–3	12
University of California, Riverside	Big West Conference	16–14	7–7	16
University of Utah	Mountain West	24–6	12–4	5

Qualifying teams - at-large

Thirty-three additional teams were selected to complete the sixty-four invitations.

At-large Bids
		Record
Qualifying School	Conference	Regular Season	Conference	Seed
Arizona State University	Pacific-10	24–6	14–4	4
Baylor University	Big 12	24–6	12–4	3
Boston College	Atlantic Coast	19–11	6–8	8
Brigham Young University	Mountain West	25–5	13–3	7
University of California, Berkeley	Pacific-10	18–11	10–8	10
University of Connecticut	Big East	29–4	14–2	2
DePaul University	Big East	25–6	11–5	4
Duke University	Atlantic Coast	26–3	12–2	1
University of Florida	Southeastern	21–8	8–6	6
Florida State University	Atlantic Coast	19–9	10–4	6
The George Washington University	Atlantic 10	22–8	13–3	7
University of Georgia	Southeastern	21–8	10–4	3
University of Iowa	Big Ten	17–11	10–6	10
University of Kentucky	Southeastern	21–8	9–5	5
University of Louisville	Big East	19–9	10–6	9
University of Maryland, College Park	Atlantic Coast	28–4	12–2	2
Michigan State University	Big Ten	22–9	11–5	4
University of Minnesota	Big Ten	19–9	11–5	8
University of Missouri	Big 12	21–9	10–6	10
University of New Mexico	Mountain West	21–9	11–5	11
North Carolina State University	Atlantic Coast	19–11	7–7	5
University of Notre Dame	Big East	18–11	8–8	9
Purdue University	Big Ten	24–6	13–3	4
University of South Florida	Big East	18–11	9–7	9
University of Southern California	Pacific-10	18–11	11–7	8
St. John's University	Big East	21–7	11–5	7
Texas Christian University	Mountain West	18–11	11–5	11
University of Tennessee	Southeastern	28–4	11–3	2
Texas A&M University	Big 12	23–8	11–5	6
University of California, Los Angeles	Pacific-10	20–10	12–6	5
Vanderbilt University	Southeastern	20–10	8–6	8
Virginia Tech	Atlantic Coast	20–9	6–8	7
University of Washington	Pacific-10	18–10	11–7	9

Bids by conference

Thirty-one conferences earned an automatic bid. In twenty-three cases, the automatic bid was the only representative from the conference. Thirty-three additional at-large teams were selected from eight of the conferences.

Bids	Conference	Teams
7	Atlantic Coast	North Carolina, Boston College, Duke, Florida St., Maryland, North Carolina St., Virginia Tech
7	Big East	Rutgers, Connecticut, DePaul, Louisville, Notre Dame, South Fla., St. John’s NY
6	Pacific-10	Stanford, Arizona St., California, Southern California, UCLA, Washington
6	Southeastern	LSU, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
5	Big Ten	Ohio St., Iowa, Michigan St., Minnesota, Purdue
4	Big 12	Oklahoma, Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M
4	Mountain West	Utah, BYU, New Mexico, TCU
2	Atlantic 10	Temple, George Washington
1	America East	Hartford
1	Atlantic Sun	Fla. Atlantic
1	Big Sky	Northern Ariz.
1	Big South	Liberty
1	Big West	UC Riverside
1	Colonial	Old Dominion
1	Conference USA	Tulsa
1	Horizon	Milwaukee
1	Ivy	Dartmouth
1	Metro Atlantic	Marist
1	Mid-American	Bowling Green
1	Mid-Continent	Oakland
1	Mid-Eastern	Coppin St.
1	Missouri Valley	Missouri St.
1	Northeast	Sacred Heart
1	Ohio Valley	Southeast Mo. St.
1	Patriot	Army
1	Southern	Chattanooga
1	Southland	Stephen F. Austin
1	Southwestern	Southern U.
1	Sun Belt	Middle Tenn.
1	West Coast	Pepperdine
1	Western Athletic	Louisiana Tech

Bids by state

The sixty-four teams came from twenty-nine states, plus Washington, D.C. California had the most teams with six bids. Twenty-one states did not have any teams receiving bids.

NCAA Women's basketball Tournament invitations by state 2006

Bids	State	Teams
6	California	Pepperdine, Stanford, UC Riverside, California, Southern California, UCLA
4	Florida	Fla. Atlantic, Florida, Florida St., South Fla.
4	Tennessee	Chattanooga, Middle Tenn., Tennessee, Vanderbilt
4	Texas	Stephen F. Austin, Baylor, TCU, Texas A&M
3	Connecticut	Hartford, Sacred Heart, Connecticut
3	Louisiana	Louisiana Tech, LSU, Southern U.
3	Missouri	Missouri St., Missouri, Southeast Mo. St.
3	New York	Army, Marist, St. John’s NY
3	North Carolina	North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina St.
3	Virginia	Liberty, Old Dominion, Virginia Tech
2	Arizona	Northern Ariz., Arizona St.
2	Indiana	Notre Dame, Purdue
2	Kentucky	Kentucky, Louisville
2	Maryland	Coppin St., Maryland
2	Michigan	Oakland, Michigan St.
2	Ohio	Bowling Green, Ohio St.
2	Oklahoma	Oklahoma, Tulsa
2	Utah	Utah, BYU
1	District of Columbia	George Washington
1	Georgia	Georgia
1	Illinois	DePaul
1	Iowa	Iowa
1	Massachusetts	Boston College
1	Minnesota	Minnesota
1	New Hampshire	Dartmouth
1	New Jersey	Rutgers
1	New Mexico	New Mexico
1	Pennsylvania	Temple
1	Washington	Washington
1	Wisconsin	Milwaukee

Brackets

Data source
*-Overtime game.

Cleveland Regional

	First round March 18 and 19					Second round March 20 and 21					Regional semifinals March 26					Regional finals March 28
	1	North Carolina	75
	16	UC Riverside	51
						1	North Carolina	89
	Nashville, TN
						8	Vanderbilt	70
	8	Vanderbilt	76
	9	Louisville	64
											1	North Carolina	70
											4	Purdue	68
	5	UCLA	74
	12	Bowling Green	61
						5	UCLA	54
	West Lafayette, IN
						4	Purdue	61
	4	Purdue	73
	13	Missouri State	54
																1	North Carolina	75
																2	Tennessee	63
	6	Texas A&M	65
	11	TCU	69
						11	TCU	48
	Trenton, NJ
						3	Rutgers	82
	3	Rutgers	63
	14	Dartmouth	58
											3	Rutgers	69
											2	Tennessee	76
	7	George Washington	87
	10	Old Dominion	72
						7	George Washington	53
	Norfolk, VA
						2	Tennessee	66
	2	Tennessee	102
	15	Army	54

Albuquerque Regional

	First round March 18 and 19					Second round March 20 and 21					Regional semifinals March 25					Regional finals March 27
	1	Ohio State	68
	16	Oakland (MI)	45
						1	Ohio State	69
	West Lafayette, IN
						8	Boston College	79
	8	Boston College	78
	9	Notre Dame	61
											8	Boston College	54
											5	Utah	57
	5	Utah	76
	12	Middle Tennessee	71
						5	Utah	86
	Tucson, AZ
						4	Arizona State	65
	4	Arizona State	80
	13	Stephen F. Austin	61
																5	Utah	65
																2	Maryland	75*
	6	Florida	59
	11	New Mexico	83
						11	New Mexico	67
	Tucson, AZ
						3	Baylor	87
	3	Baylor	74
	14	Northern Arizona	56
											3	Baylor	63
											2	Maryland	82
	7	St. John's	78
	10	California	68
						7	St. John's	74
	University Park, PA
						2	Maryland	81
	2	Maryland	95
	15	Sacred Heart	54

Bridgeport Regional

	First round March 18 and 19					Second round March 20 and 21					Regional semifinals March 26					Regional finals March 28
	1	Duke	96
	16	Southern	27
						1	Duke	85
	Norfolk, VA
						8	Southern California	51
	8	Southern California	67
	9	South Florida	65
											1	Duke	86
											4	Michigan State	61
	5	Kentucky	69
	12	Chattanooga	59
						5	Kentucky	63
	Rosemont, IL
						4	Michigan State	67
	4	Michigan State	65
	13	Milwaukee	46
																1	Duke	63*
																2	Connecticut	61
	6	Temple	58
	11	Hartford	64
						11	Hartford	54
	Trenton, NJ
						3	Georgia	73
	3	Georgia	75
	14	Marist	60
											3	Georgia	75
											2	Connecticut	77
	7	Virginia Tech	82
	10	Missouri	51
						7	Virginia Tech	56
	University Park, PA
						2	Connecticut	79
	2	Connecticut	77
	15	Coppin State	54

San Antonio Regional

	First round March 18					Second round March 20					Regional semifinals March 25					Regional finals March 27
	1	LSU	72
	16	Florida Atlantic	48
						1	LSU	72
	Nashville, TN
						9	Washington	49
	8	Minnesota	69
	9	Washington	73
											1	LSU	66
											4	DePaul	56
	5	NC State	61
	12	Tulsa	71
						12	Tulsa	67
	Rosemont, IL
						4	DePaul	71
	4	DePaul	68
	13	Liberty	43
																1	LSU	62
																3	Stanford	59
	6	Florida State	80
	11	Louisiana Tech	71
						6	Florida State	70
	Denver, CO
						3	Stanford	88
	3	Stanford	72
	14	Southeast Missouri	45
											3	Stanford	88
											2	Oklahoma	74
	7	BYU	67
	10	Iowa	62
						7	BYU	70
	Denver, CO
						2	Oklahoma	86
	2	Oklahoma	78
	15	Pepperdine	66

Final Four – TD Banknorth Garden (Boston, Massachusetts)

	National Semifinals April 2					National Championship April 4
	Alb2	Maryland	81
	Cle1	North Carolina	70
						Alb2	Maryland	78*
						Bpt1	Duke	75
	Bpt1	Duke	64
	SA1	LSU	45

Alb-Albuquerque; Bpt-Bridgeport; Cle-Cleveland; SA-San Antonio.

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	Round of 32	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship Game
Atlantic Coast	7	19–6	.760	6	4	3	3	2
Big East	7	8–7	.533	4	3	1	0	0
Southeastern	6	11–6	.647	5	3	2	1	0
Pacific-10	6	7–6	.538	5	1	1	0	0
Big Ten	5	5–5	.500	3	2	0	0	0
Mountain West	4	6–4	.600	4	1	1	0	0
Big 12	4	4–4	.500	2	2	0	0	0
Atlantic 10	2	1–2	.333	1	0	0	0	0
America East	1	1–1	.500	1	0	0	0	0
Conference USA	1	1–1	.500	1	0	0	0	0

Twenty-one conferences went 0-1: Atlantic Sun Conference, Big Sky Conference, Big South Conference, Big West Conference, Colonial, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, Mid-Continent, MEAC, Missouri Valley Conference, Northeast Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Southern Conference, Southland, SWAC, Sun Belt Conference, West Coast Conference, and WAC

All-Tournament Team

• Laura Harper, Maryland
• Alison Bales, Duke
• Monique Currie, Duke
• Erlana Larkins, North Carolina
• Kristi Toliver, Maryland

Game Officials

• Melissa Barlow (Semi-Final)
• Scott Yarbrough (Semi-Final)
• Eric Brewton (Semi-Final)
• Dee Kantner (Semi-Final)
• Denise Brooks-Clauser (Semi-Final)
• Michael Price (Semi-Final)
• Lisa Mattingly (Final)
• Bob Trammell (Final)
• Tina Napier (Final)

See also

• NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
• 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
• 2006 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament