1981–82 Cheyney State Lady Wolves basketball team

The 1981–82 Cheyney State Lady Wolves basketball team represented Cheyney State College as an NCAA independent during the 1981–82 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The team was led by 11th–year head coach C. Vivian Stringer and played their home games at Cope Hall in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. Fueled by a roster with eight high school All-Americans and an eventual Hall of Fame coach, the Lady Wolves earned a record of 28–3 and a No. 2 ranking, and finished runner-up for the inaugural NCAA Division I women's basketball championship^[1] – despite being a Division II school with limited resources.

1981–82 Cheyney State Lady Wolves basketball
NCAA tournament, Runner-up
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 2
Record	28–3
Head coach	C. Vivian Stringer (11th season)
Assistant coaches	Carlotta Schaffer (3rd season) Ann Hill
Home arena	Cope Hall
Seasons ← 1980–81 1982–83 →

To date, this Cheyney State team is the only HBCU to reach the NCAA women's Final Four and play for an NCAA championship.^[2][3] Years later, Stringer became the first coach to lead three different teams to the NCAA Final Four, following her success at Cheyney with strong runs at Iowa and Rutgers, and ended her 50-year career with over 1,000 victories.

Roster

1981–82 Cheyney Wolves women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Hometown G 3 Sandra Giddins 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) So Yonkers, New York G 10 Karen Draughn 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So New Haven, Connecticut G 11 Lena Dabney 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Jr Philadelphia, Pennsylvania F/C 15 Ann Strong 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr Toledo, Ohio F 30 Debra Walker 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Detroit, Michigan C 34 Shay Taylor 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) So Jersey City, New Jersey C 40 Faith Wilds (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania G 41 Paulette Bigelow 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr East Orange, New Jersey G/F 44 Yolanda Laney 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So Philadelphia, Pennsylvania F 51 Rosetta Guilford 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Newark, New Jersey F 53 Valerie Walker (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sr Piscataway, New Jersey	Head coach C. Vivian Stringer Assistant coach(es) Ann Hill Carlotta "Bunny" Schaffer Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 21, 1981* 7:00 p.m.	No. 7	Morgan State			Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Nov 24, 1981* 6:00 p.m.	No. 7	at Boston University	W 85–58	2–0	Case Gym  Boston, Massachusetts
Dec 1, 1981* 7:00 p.m.	No. 6	at Kutztown State	W 103–38	3–0	Keystone Hall  Kutztown, Pennsylvania
Dec 9, 1981* 8:00 p.m.	No. 6	at Mount St. Mary's	W 66–65	4–0	Emmitsburg, Maryland
Dec 15, 1981* 7:00 p.m.	No. 7	Millersville State			Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Dec 19, 1981*	No. 7	vs. No. 3 Old Dominion Manufacturers Hanover Christmas Classic	L 55–83^[4]	5–1	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Dec 20, 1981*	No. 8	vs. No. 6 Rutgers Manufacturers Hanover Christmas Classic	L 82–86^[5]	5–2	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Jan 5, 1982*	No. 8	Delta State	W 90–36	6–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Jan 6, 1982*	No. 8	William Penn	W 92–51	7–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Jan 16, 1982* 7:30 p.m.	No. 4	at University of DC			UDC Gymnasium  Washington, D.C.
Jan 19, 1982* 6:30 p.m.	No. 4	at Shippensburg State	W 97–48	9–2	Heiges Field House  Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
Jan 21, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	Saint Joseph's	W 90–49	10–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Jan 23, 1982* 6:00 p.m.	No. 4	No. 15 Villanova	W 68–58	11–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Jan 25, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	East Stroudsburg State	W 105–35	12–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Jan 27, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	Seton Hall	W 86–57	13–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Jan 30, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	Pittsburgh	W 85–59	14–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 3, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	No. 12 Penn State	W 78–70	15–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 5, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	Howard			Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 8, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	Temple	W 91–54	17–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 10, 1982* 7:30 p.m.	No. 4	at No. 5 Maryland	W 67–51	18–2	Cole Field House  College Park, Maryland
Feb 13, 1982* 6:30 p.m.	No. 4	Queens College			Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 17, 1982* 7:30 p.m.	No. 3	at No. 5 Rutgers	W 67–53	20–2	Rutgers Athletic Center  Piscataway, New Jersey
Feb 19, 1982* 6:00 p.m.	No. 3	Edinboro			Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 23, 1982* 7:00 p.m.	No. 2	La Salle	W 75–49	22–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
PSAC tournament
Feb 26, 1982*	No. 2	Millersville State Semifinals	W 114–37	23–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Feb 27, 1982*	No. 2	Slippery Rock Championship game	W 92–33	24–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
NCAA tournament
Mar 13, 1982*	(2 E) No. 2	vs. (7 E) Auburn First round	W 75–64	25–2	Cope Hall  Cheyney, Pennsylvania
Mar 18, 1982*	(2 E) No. 2	vs. (3 E) No. 11 NC State Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 74–61	26–2	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 20, 1982*	(2 E) No. 2	vs. (4 E) No. 18 Kansas State Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 93–71^[6]	27–2	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 26, 1982*	(2 E) No. 2	vs. (2 W) No. 3 Maryland National Semifinal – Final Four	W 76–66^[7]	28–2	Norfolk Scope  Norfolk, Virginia
Mar 28, 1982*  CBS	(2 E) No. 2	vs. (1 MW) No. 1 Louisiana Tech National Championship	L 62–76^[1]^[8]	28–3	Norfolk Scope (9,531) Norfolk, Virginia
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern.

Rankings

Main article: 1981–82 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
AP	7 (1)	6	6	7	8	8	8	7	4	4	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2

Awards and honors

• Valerie Walker – All-American

References

1. "La. Tech Women: No. 2 and Counting". The Washington Post. March 28, 1982. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
2. "Forty Years Ago an HBCU Played in the First Women's Final Four. Today the Program Is Gone". Sports Illustrated. March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
3. "How the NCAA women's Final Four was born". The Washington Post. March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
4. "Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion in Final". The New York Times. December 20, 1981. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
5. "Louisiana Tech Women Take Tourney". The New York Times. December 21, 1981. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
6. "Cheyney St. romps over Kansas State". The Morning Call. March 21, 1982. Retrieved March 16, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
7. "Cheyney State Outruns Terrapins in Semifinal". The New York Times. March 27, 1982. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
8. "The Rich Get Richer, High-Tech Style". Sports Illustrated. April 5, 1982. Retrieved March 16, 2024.