| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1954 |
| Inaugural season | 1954-55 |
| Ceased | 1990 |
| Country |  East Germany |
| Continent |  FIBA Europe (Europe) |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
The GDR championship women's basketball is the former highest women's professional club basketball competition in East Germany.
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Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician James Naismith, who invented the sport in Springfield, the Hall of Fame was opened and inducted its first class in 1959.
Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin is an American television basketball analyst and former women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the center position for much of her career. Lobo played college basketball at the University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 national championship, going 35–0 on the season in the process. Lobo was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. In April 2017, she was announced as one of the members of the 2017 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside Tracy McGrady and Muffet McGraw.
Lynette Woodard is a retired American basketball Hall of Fame player and former head women's basketball coach at Winthrop University. Woodard made history by becoming the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters and who, at age 38, began playing as one of the oldest members in the newly formed American women's professional basketball league, the WNBA.
Women's basketball became popular, spreading from the east to west coast of the United States in large part via women's college competitions. As of 2020, women's basketball is played globally, with basketball being one of the most popular and fastest growing sports in the world.
Luigi "Geno" Auriemma is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He has led UConn to eleven NCAA Division I national championships, the most in women's college basketball history, and has won eight national Naismith College Coach of the Year awards. Auriemma was the head coach of the United States women's national basketball team from 2009 through 2016, during which time his teams won the 2010 and 2014 World Championships, and gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, going undefeated in all four tournaments. Auriemma was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
College basketball in the United States is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Each of these various organizations are subdivided into from one to three divisions based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes.
Addie Jo "Jody" Conradt is a retired women's basketball coach. She was the head coach for the women's team at University of Texas at Austin (UT). Her coaching career spanned 38 years, with the last 31 years at UT from 1976 to 2007. She also served concurrently as the UT women's athletic director from 1992 to 2001. During her tenure at UT, she achieved several notable personal and team milestones in collegiate basketball. At retirement, she had tallied 900 career victories, second place in all time victories for an NCAA Division I basketball coach. Conradt was inducted in the inaugural class at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Cheryl D. Miller is an American former basketball player. She was formerly a sideline reporter for NBA games on TNT Sports and also works for NBA TV as a reporter and analyst, having worked previously as a sportscaster for ABC Sports, TBS Sports, and ESPN. She was also head coach and general manager of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
Ann Meyers Drysdale is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional levels.
FIBA Asia is a zone within the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) which contains all 44 Asian FIBA federations.
FIBA Africa is a zone within the FIBA basketball association which contains all 54 national African FIBA federations. It was founded in 1961. FIBA Africa maintains offices in Cairo and in Abidjan.
FIBA Oceania is a zone within FIBA. It is one of FIBA's five continental confederations. FIBA Oceania is responsible for the organization and governance of the major international tournaments in Oceania. It has 22 FIBA Federations and is headquartered in Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The current FIBA Oceania President is Burton Shipley from New Zealand.
The USA Basketball Women's National Team, commonly known as the United States Women's National Basketball Team, is governed by USA Basketball and competes in FIBA Americas. The team is by far the most successful in international women's basketball, winning nine out of eleven Olympic tournaments it had entered. It also won eight of the last eleven World Cups, and ten titles overall. The team is currently ranked first in the FIBA World Rankings.
Lusia Harris-Stewart is a former American basketball player. Harris is considered to be one of the pioneers of women's basketball. She played for Delta State University and won three consecutive Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National Championships, the predecessors to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, from 1975 to 1977. In international level, she represented the United States' national team and won the silver medal in the 1976 Olympic Games, the first women's basketball tournament in the Olympic Games. She played professional basketball with the Houston Angels of the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) and was the first and only woman ever officially drafted by the National Basketball Association (NBA), a men's professional basketball league. For her achievements, Harris has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Its chairman of the board is retired General Martin Dempsey and its CEO is Jim Tooley.
Ann "Muffet" McGraw is an American former college basketball coach, who served as the head women's basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, compiling a 905–272 (.769) record over 32 seasons. She led her team to nine Final Fours, seven championship game appearances, and two National Championships in 2001 and 2018.
Basketball has been played consistently at the Mediterranean Games since the year 1951 for men and since the year 1987 for women. The Yugoslavia national basketball team was the most successful men's team and the Croatian women's national basketball team is the most successful team for women.
The International Basketball Federation is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur, in 1989 it dropped the word amateur from its name but retained the acronym.