1980 SEC women's basketball tournament

The 1980 Southeastern Conference women's basketball tournament was a midseason women's basketball tournament for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) held at the Stokely Athletic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, from February 7 – 10, 1980. It was the first SEC women's basketball tournament in history and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers won the tournament defeating the Ole Miss Rebels 85-71. Tennessee earned an automatic bid to the 1980 AIAW National Division I Basketball Championship for their victory.

1980 SEC women's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	10
Site	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Champions	Tennessee (1st title)
Winning coach	Pat Summitt (1st title)
MVP	Jill Rankin (Tennessee)
Attendance	4,085
SEC women's basketball tournaments

Notably, women’s basketball was not officially sponsored by the SEC until the 1982-83 season.

Seeds

All teams in the conference participated in the tournament.

Seed	School	Overall Record	Conference Record
1	Tennessee‡†	19–3	4–0
2	Kentucky†	15–2	2–1
3	Ole Miss†	18–11	3–1
4	LSU†	15–10	1–2
5	Georgia†	14–9	3–1
6	Auburn†	14–6	4–0
7	Alabama	9–12	1–4
8	Mississippi State	10–14	2–5
9	Vanderbilt	11–10	2–2
10	Florida	4–14	1–7
‡ – SEC tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a bye in the conference tournament.

Schedule

Game	Matchup#	Score
First Round – Thurs, Feb 7
1	No. 8 Mississippi State vs. No. 10 Florida	62–68
2	No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 9 Vanderbilt	69–63
Quarterfinal – Fri, Feb 8
3	No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 10 Florida	118–44
4	No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 7 Alabama	77–69
5	No. 3 Ole Miss vs. No. 5 Georgia	80–70
6	No. 4 LSU vs. No. 6 Auburn	64–70
Semifinal – Sat, Feb 9
7	No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 6 Auburn	72–61
8	No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Ole Miss	62–79
Championship – Sun, Feb 10
9	No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 3 Ole Miss	85–71
# – Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Thurs, Feb 7					Quarterfinals Fri, Feb 8					Semifinals Sat, Feb 9					Championship Sun, Feb 10
						1	Tennessee	118
						10	Florida	44
	8	Mississippi State	62
	10	Florida	68
											1	Tennessee	72
											6	Auburn	61
						4	LSU	64
						6	Auburn	70
																1	Tennessee	85
																3	Ole Miss	71
						2	Kentucky	77
						7	Alabama	69
	7	Alabama	69
	9	Vanderbilt	63
											2	Kentucky	62
											3	Ole Miss	79
																Third place
						3	Ole Miss	80								2	Kentucky	88
						5	Georgia	70								6	Auburn	59

Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime.

All-Tournament team

• Lori Monroe, Auburn
• Valerie Still, Kentucky
• Peggie Gillom, Ole Miss
• Carol Ross, Ole Miss
• Cindy Noble, Tennessee
• Jill Rankin, Tennessee (MVP)
• Holly Warlick, Tennessee