The Northeast Conference women's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in women's basketball for the Northeast Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament that in its most recent 2024 edition involved 8 of the 9 then-current league schools, and seeding is based on regular-season records with head-to-head match-up as a tie-breaker. While the NEC lost two members after the 2023–24 season, with Merrimack and Sacred Heart leaving for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, it gained two members at the same time with the addition of Chicago State and Mercyhurst. New Haven joined in 2025, while Saint Francis will leave in 2026 to move to NCAA Division III.
The tournament has been held since 1986, although the winner has only received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA women's basketball tournament since 1994. Between the 1987 and 1988, when the NEC was still called the ECAC Metro Conference, the tournament was known as the ECAC Metro Conference women's basketball tournament.
The highest seeds face off against the corresponding lowest seeds, with the two remaining teams facing off in the Finals to determine the champion.
Saint Francis (departing in 2026) has the most championships with 12. The next three schools in this category—Robert Morris (8), Mount St. Mary's, and Sacred Heart (5 each)—left the NEC between 2020 and 2024. Among current NEC members, Fairleigh Dickinson (3 titles) is the only other program with more than one champinship.
History of the tournament final Year Champion Score Runner-up Location1987 Monmouth (1)92–65Fairleigh DickinsonWest Long Branch, NJ1988 Robert Morris (1)63–60Monmouth1989 Wagner (1) 66–60Robert MorrisStaten Island, NY1990 Fairleigh Dickinson (1)70–65Mount St. Mary's Emmitsburg, MD1991 Robert Morris (2)69–61Wagner1992 Fairleigh Dickinson (2)78–55Mount St. Mary's1993 Mount St. Mary's (1)82–61MaristTeaneck, NJ1994 Mount St. Mary's (2)78–67Saint Francis (PA)Emmitsburg, MD1995 Mount St. Mary's (3)80–61Saint Francis (PA)1996 Saint Francis (PA) (1)83–75Mount St. Mary's1997 Saint Francis (PA) (2)54–42MonmouthLoretto, PA1998 Saint Francis (PA) (3)74–49Wagner1999 Saint Francis (PA) (4)88–76MonmouthStaten Island, NY2000 Saint Francis (PA) (5)74–60WagnerTrenton, NJ2001 Long Island (1)70–61Mount St. Mary's2002 Saint Francis (PA) (6)74–54Long IslandLoretto, PA2003 Saint Francis (PA) (7)58–41UMBC2004 Saint Francis (PA) (8)70–55Monmouth2005 Saint Francis (PA) (9)65–50Robert Morris2006 Sacred Heart (1)69–65QuinnipiacFairfield, CT2007 Robert Morris (3)68–66Sacred Heart2008 Robert Morris (4)86–75Long IslandMoon Township, PA2009 Sacred Heart (2)74–66Saint Francis (PA)Fairfield, CT2010 Saint Francis (PA) (10)77–68Long IslandBrooklyn, NY2011 Saint Francis (PA) (11)72–57MonmouthLoretto, PA2012 Sacred Heart (3)58–48MonmouthFairfield, CT2013 Quinnipiac (1)72–33Saint Francis (PA)Hampden, CT2014Robert Morris (5)78–64Saint Francis (PA)Moon Township, PA2015St. Francis Brooklyn (1)77–62Robert Morris2016Robert Morris (6)56–51Sacred HeartFairfield, CT2017Robert Morris (7)65–52BryantMoon Township, PA2018Saint Francis (PA) (12)66–56Robert MorrisLoretto, PA2019Robert Morris (8)65–54Saint Francis (PA)Moon Township, PA2020Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic2021Mount St. Mary's (4)70–38WagnerEmmitsburg, MD2022Mount St. Mary's (5)60–42Bryant2023Sacred Heart (4)72–60Fairleigh DickinsonHackensack, NJ 2024Sacred Heart (5) 69–48 Le Moyne Fairfield, CT2025Farleigh Dickinson (3)66-49 Stonehill Hackensack, NJ2026Farleigh Dickinson (4)79-57 LIU Hackensack, NJ
Champions School Championships Championship YearsSaint Francis (PA) 12 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2018Robert Morris 8 1988, 1991, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019Mount St. Mary's5 1993, 1994, 1995, 2021, 2022Sacred Heart5 2006, 2009, 2012, 2023, 2024Fairleigh Dickinson4 1990, 1992, 2025, 2026St. Francis Brooklyn1 2015Wagner1 1989 LIU1 2001Monmouth1 1987Quinnipiac1 2013
Before the 2019–20 season, each of Long Island University's two main campuses (Brooklyn and Post) operated separate athletic programs, with only the Brooklyn campus (most recently branded athletically as LIU Brooklyn) being an NEC member. The merged LIU program inherited Brooklyn's NEC and Division I memberships, and also inherited the athletic history of the Brooklyn campus in all sports sponsored by that campus before the athletic merger. Chicago State, Central Connecticut, Le Moyne, and Stonehill have not yet won an NEC tournament. Mercyhurst, which joined the NEC from Division II in 2024, will not be eligible for the tournament until 2027, and New Haven, which joined from D-II in 2025, will not be eligible until 2028. Bryant, Loyola Maryland, Marist, Merrimack, Rider, and UMBC never won the tournament as NEC members. Schools highlighted in pink are former members of the NEC as of the upcoming 2025–26 season.
See also Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament
References