Women's basketball was among the first three sports the college adopted when it went "fully-coed" in 1980-81. The founding coach was Julie Soriero, who moved on to head coaching positions at Philadelphia U., Penn, and Colorado College before retiring as Director of Athletics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The program grew throughout the 1980’s under such mentors as eventual U.S. Lacrosse coach Sue Stahl, and had many fine players, though lacking a consistent scorer.
That description was finally appropriated by Amy Taylor ’92, who became Haverford's first 1,000 point scorer. Taylor was a two-time All-Middle Atlantic Conference performer and Haverford captain, a three-time basketball MVP, and the 1992 winner of the Varsity Cup, Haverford's highest athletic award. In her junior season, the program reached .500 for the first time under new head coach Dick Wiseman.
Besides Taylor ’92, other Fords who found success in life after basketball include Beth Chittick ’91, who battled back to play with torn ACLs in both knees and is now a veterinarian, and All-Centennial selections Koren Miller ’95, Claudette Pirwitz ’96, and Colleen Leonard ’98. Only injuries kept Claudette and Colleen from reaching the 1,000-point mark, and very few teams could contain these talented and dedicated players.
Coach Jim Osborne took the Fords through the beginning of the 2000's, racking up the most wins of any Haverford women's hoops coach at the time with 32. In 2008-09, Bobbi Morgan joined the Haverford ranks, after building a NCAA caliber team at nearby Cabrini College.
In her first year at the helm, Morgan led the Fords to their highest Centennial Conference win total in school history and mentored just the third 1,000 point scorer in the women's program with Brittany Lattisaw ’09. The following season Morgan's tutelage helped Nina Voith '13 (second-team All-Centennial Conference) become the first Haverford player to lead the Centennial Conference in scoring average. Haverford made the Centennial Conference Tournament for the first time in program history during the 2011-12 season, doing so without a senior on the roster. Morgan was named Centennial Conference Coach of the Year after the Fords set new program standards for overall wins (18) and conference wins (12).
After posting its second straight winning campaign during the 2012-13 season (15-10), the Fords finally reached the national stage during the 2013-14 season. Making its first appearance at the NCAA Tournament, Haverford won its opening round game against Rhode Island College, 53-48. The Fords were eliminated in the second round by Ithaca, 54-43. Haverford finished the season with a 24-4 overall record that marked the highest winning percentage and most total wins in program history. The Fords advanced to the NCAA Tournament following their first Centennial Conference Championship during that historic season.
The string of postseason success carried into the 2014-15 season. Elizabeth Lynch ’15 became the sixth player in program history to graduate with 1,000 career points as she reached that mark at home during an 80-47 win against Franklin & Marshall (Jan. 29, 2015). She finished her career ranked fourth in program history with 1,116 points, including a program-record 206 3-point field goals made. Along with fellow senior Jacquelyne Pizzuto ’15, the Fords made the Centennial Conference Tournament for the fourth straight season. Pizzuto led NCAA Division III players with a 3.41 assist to turnover ratio on her way to being selected first-team All-Centennial Conference.
The Fords hosted the conference tournament during the 2016-17 season and made it back to the NCAA Tournament the following year after recording 21 victories and finishing as the Centennial Conference runner-up. Senior co-captains and 1,000 point scorers Sierra Berkel ’18 and Samantha Wetzel ’18 led that team. Berkel was a multiple time first-team All-Centennial Conference selection while Wetzel finished as the conference’s all-time leader in career blocked shots.
Even with the graduation losses, Haverford captured its second Centennial Conference Championship during the 2018-19 season as the Fords posted a 22-7 record overall. As the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Haverford bested second-seeded Johns Hopkins (w, 43-41) and thumped top-seeded Gettysburg (w, 62-40) to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The postseason run didn’t end there as the Fords topped local foe Rosemont by an 80-37 score in the first round before falling in a thrilling 52-46 battle to No. 4 overall Tufts in the second round. Macy Goldbach ’19 became the most recent 1,000 point scorer during that season as she was first-team All-Centennial Conference selection.
The Fords made it back-to-back Centennial Conference Championships and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances during the 2019-20 season. Behind Centennial Conference Player of the Year and honorable mention All-American Anna-Sophia Capizzi ’20, the Fords earned hosting rights to the Centennial Conference Tournament and overcame a 14-0 deficit in the championship game to defeat Gettysburg by a 49-46 score. Haverford finished that championship season with a record of 23-5. Entering the 2021-22 season, Haverford has made nine straight trips to the Centennial Conference playoffs.