The Ivy League women's basketball tournament is the conference tournament in basketball for the Ivy League, and is held alongside the Ivy League men's tournament at the same venue. The overall event is currently marketed as Ivy Madness. As with the men's tournament, the women's event is a single-elimination tournament involving the top four schools in the standings. The tournament format consists of two semifinal games on the first day (Friday), with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed playing the No. 3 seed, followed by the championship game played the next day (Saturday). The tournament winner receives the League's automatic bids to the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. The teams that finish with the best records from the 14-game, regular-season conference schedule continue to be recognized as Ivy League champions.
Unlike the men's Ivy tournament, in which the regular-season champion receives an automatic berth in the National Invitation Tournament should it fail to win the conference tournament, a women's regular-season champion is technically not guaranteed a postseason berth if it does not make the NCAA tournament. However, the Women's National Invitation Tournament has a standing policy of inviting the top available team from each NCAA Division I conference once the NCAA women's tournament field has been set. (This difference is because unlike the men's NIT, the WNIT is neither owned nor operated by the NCAA.)
Prior to the formal tournament, the Ivy League used a one-game playoff if necessary to break ties eight times with two teams, and in 2001-02, a three-team tournament, in order to settle the conference championship.
The first two tournaments in 2017 and 2018 were held at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The 2019 event was held at John J. Lee Amphitheater, a venue located within Yale University's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. In 2019, the Ivy League announced that the men's and women's tournaments would rotate among the remaining conference members through 2025. Due to COVID-19 disruptions, the 2020 tournament was canceled, and the Ivy League did not play a 2020–21 season. The tournament resumed in 2022, with all venues shifted forward by two years.
Champions Year Champion Score Runner-up Tournament MVP Location 2017 Penn 57–49 Princeton Michelle Nwokedi Palestra (Philadelphia, PA) 2018 Princeton 63–34 Penn Bella Alarie 2019Princeton65–54PennBella Alarie John J. Lee Amphitheater (New Haven, CT) 2020Not held due to COVID-19 2021 2022 Princeton 77–59 Columbia Kaitlyn Chen Lavietes Pavilion (Boston, MA) 2023 Princeton 54–48 Harvard Kaitlyn Chen Jadwin Gymnasium (Princeton, NJ) 2024Princeton 75–58ColumbiaKaitlyn Chen Levien Gymnasium (New York, NY) 2025 Harvard 74-71 Columbia Harmoni Turner Pizzitola Sports Center (Providence, RI) 2026 Princeton 63-53 Harvard Fadima Tall Newman Arena (Ithaca, NY)
Tournament championships by school School Championships Championship Years Princeton 6 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026 Penn 1 2017Harvard12025
Tournament appearances by school Team Bids YearsPrinceton 8 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026Harvard 8 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026Penn 6 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025Columbia 5 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026Yale 2 2018, 2022Brown 1 2017Cornell 1 2019Dartmouth 0 -
List of regular season champions Since 1974, the Ivy League has had regular season titles for women's basketball.Ivy League Basketball: Women's Postseason History (PDF) 1974–75: Princeton 1975–76: Princeton 1976–77: Princeton 1977–78: Princeton 1978–79: Yale 1979–80: Dartmouth 1980–81: Dartmouth 1981–82: Dartmouth 1982–83: Dartmouth 1983–84: Brown 1984–85: Brown & Princeton 1985–86: Dartmouth & Harvard 1986–87: Dartmouth 1987–88: Dartmouth & Harvard 1988–89: Dartmouth 1989–90: Dartmouth 1990–91: Harvard 1991–92: Brown 1992–93: Brown 1993–94: Brown & Dartmouth 1994–95: Dartmouth 1995–96: Harvard 1996–97: Harvard 1997–98: Harvard 1998–99: Dartmouth & Princeton 1999–00: Dartmouth 2000–01: Penn 2001–02: Harvard 2002–03: Harvard 2003–04: Penn 2004–05: Dartmouth &Harvard 2005–06: Brown, Dartmouth & Princeton 2006–07: Harvard 2007–08: Cornell, Dartmouth & Harvard 2008–09: Dartmouth 2009–10: Princeton 2010–11: Princeton 2011–12: Princeton 2012–13: Princeton 2013–14: Penn 2014–15: Princeton 2015–16: Penn 2016–17: Penn 2017–18: Princeton 2018–19: Penn & Princeton 2019–20: Princeton 2021–22: Princeton 2022–23: Columbia & Princeton 2023–24: Columbia & Princeton 2024-25: Columbia 2025-26: Princeton
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