The 2021 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament was the 39th annual tournament hosted by the NCAA to determine the national champion of Division II women's collegiate basketball in the United States.
The Elite Eight was held at Alumni Hall at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio from March 23âÂÂ26, 2021.
Defending champions Lubbock Christian defeated Drury in the championship game, 69âÂÂ59, to claim the Lady Chaps' third overall and second consecutive national title. Lubbock Christian additionally finished the season undefeated (23-0).
A total of 48 bids were available for the tournament: 16 automatic (awarded to the champions of the sixteen Division II conferences that crowned a basketball champion after the end of the regular season) and 32 at-large.
The field size was temporarily reduced for just the 2021 championship to account for teams and conferences that chose to not compete during the 2020âÂÂ21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams from six conferences (CCAA, CIAA, Northeast-10, PSAC, SIAC and Sunshine State) did not participate in the regular season and were ineligible for tournament bids.
The remaining bids are allocated evenly among the eight NCAA-designated regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast, and West). Some teams, however, were placed outside their conferences' traditional regions to ensure an even distribution of teams across all eight regionals. As a result, each regions consists of two to three automatic qualifiers (the teams who won their respective conference tournaments) and two to four at-large bids.