The United Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the United Athletic Conference (UAC). The UAC has held a postseason tournament to crown a women's basketball champion every year since 1991. At first the regular season champion hosted it but at its height, the tournament was held at larger urban venues. With the departure of the Mountain West Conference teams, the tournament had returned to campus, with each game in the tournament being held in one campus venue, each year. Since 2011, the tournament has been held at the Orleans Arena, part of the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The winner of the UAC tournament is normally guaranteed a berth into the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament every year. An exception to this was in 2021, when California Baptist won the WAC tournament but was ineligible for the NCAA tournament because the school was in the midst of its transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.
Starting with the 2023 tournament, the UAC adopted a new seeding system based on advanced team metrics, developed in large part by statistical guru Ken Pomeroy. Tournament entry will still be based on conference record.
Results Year Champion Score Runner-up Location1991Utah86–69CreightonArena-Auditorium (Laramie, Wyoming)1992Creighton74–63UtahSalt Lake City1993BYU53–50UtahDelta Center (Salt Lake City)1994San Diego State51–47Colorado State Delta Center (Salt Lake City)1995Utah64–57San Diego State The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)1996Colorado State72–65New MexicoThe Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)1997San Diego State56–50UtahThomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)1998New Mexico69–48Rice Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)1999SMU65–49Colorado StateThomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)2000Rice71–67SMU Selland Arena (Fresno, California)2001TCU66–58HawaiiReynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)2002Louisiana Tech53–50Hawaii Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)2003Louisiana Tech89–57Fresno State Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)2004Louisiana Tech76–52Rice Save Mart Center (Fresno, California)2005Rice86–66Louisiana TechLawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)2006Louisiana Tech63–39New Mexico State Lawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)2007Boise State49–39New Mexico StatePan American Center (Las Cruces, New Mexico)2008Fresno State72–56New Mexico StatePan American Center (Las Cruces, New Mexico)2009Fresno State56–49NevadaLawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)2010Louisiana Tech68–66Fresno StateLawlor Events Center (Reno, Nevada)2011Fresno State78–76Louisiana TechOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2012Fresno State89–61Louisiana TechOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2013Idaho67–64SeattleOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2014Idaho75–67SeattleOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2015New Mexico State70–52Texas-Pan AmericanOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2016New Mexico State80–53Texas-Rio Grande ValleyOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2017New Mexico State63–48SeattleOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2018Seattle57–54Cal State BakersfieldOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2019New Mexico State76–73 2OTTexas–Rio Grande ValleyOrleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)2020Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 California Baptist 78–60 Grand Canyon Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada) 2022 Stephen F. Austin 74–57 Grand Canyon Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada) 2023 Southern Utah 82–73 California Baptist Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada) 2024 California Baptist 75–74 Stephen F. Austin Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada) 2025 Grand Canyon 65–62 UT Arlington Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada) 2026 California Baptist 74–58 Abilene Christian Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Records Year Finals Record Finals Appearances Championship Years Louisiana Tech 5–3 8 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 New Mexico State 4–3 7 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 Fresno State 4–2 6 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 California Baptist 3–1 4 2021, 2024, 2026 Utah 2–3 5 1991, 1995 Rice 2–2 4 2000, 2005 San Diego State 2–1 3 1994, 1997 Idaho 2–0 2 2013, 2014 Seattle 1–3 4 2018 Colorado State 1–2 3 1996 SMU 1–1 2 1999 New Mexico 1–1 2 1998 Creighton 1–1 2 1992 Stephen F. Austin 1–1 2 2022 Boise State 1–0 1 2007 Southern Utah 1–0 1 2023 TCU 1–0 1 2001 BYU 1–0 1 1993 Grand Canyon 1–2 3 2025 Texas–Rio Grande Valley 0–3 3 Hawai'i 0–2 2 Abilene Christian 0–1 1 Cal State Bakersfield 0–1 1 Nevada 0–1 1
Note: 2021 champion California Baptist began a transition from NCAA Division II in 2018 and thus was not eligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play until the 2022–23 season. Schools highlighted in pink are former WAC members as of the current 2025–26 WAC season. Records for Texas–Rio Grande Valley include those of Texas–Pan American. UTRGV was formally founded in 2013 and began operation in 2015 via the merger of UTPA and UT Brownsville. The UTPA athletic program and its history were transferred to UTRGV. Among current WAC members, three have competed in at least one WAC tournament but have yet to reach the title game: UT Arlington and Utah Valley. Of these schools, only Utah Valley has competed in more than one WAC tournament. The 2021–22 season was the first for Abilene Christian and Sam Houston. UT Arlington competed in the 2013 tournament in the only season of its first WAC tenure; it rejoined for the 2022–23 season. Two other members, Tarleton and Utah Tech (renamed from Dixie State before the 2022–23 season), have yet to compete in a WAC tournament. Both schools started transitions from NCAA Division II to Division I in 2020. Under then-current WAC rules, transitional schools were ineligible to compete in the WAC tournament until their third transitional season. (This was changed in advance of the 2022–23 season to allow transitional schools to compete in the tournament upon joining the WAC.) Both schools are ineligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play until 2024–25. Southern Utah played its first WAC season in 2022–23. New Mexico State and Sam Houston left the WAC after the 2022–23 season for Conference USA. Grand Canyon left for the Mountain West in 2025 while Seattle left for the West Coast Conference. Tarleton State, Abilene Christian and UT Arlington will remain in the rebranded WAC as members of the United Athletic Conference in 2026. California Baptist and Utah Valley plan to leave for the Big West Conference in 2026.
See also United Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament
References