The Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in women's basketball for the Ohio Valley Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament involving 8 of the 11 league schools, and seeding is based on regular-season records with head-to-head matchup as a tiebreaker. The winner normally receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA women's basketball tournament. An exception was in 2024, when Southern Indiana swept the conference's regular-season and tournament titles but was not eligible for the NCAA tournament because of its ongoing transition from NCAA Division II. The highest seeds face off against the corresponding lowest seeds, with the two remaining teams facing off in the Finals to determine the champion. The tournament has been held since 1981.
History For the 1978-79 season, a tournament was held to determine the champion of the conference, though it was not a postseason tournament due to it being held from February 8 to February 10, with the season running until March 9. Morehead State won the tournament. In 1982, the first formal tournament was held for the conference. Southeast Missouri vacated the 2005-06 title due to NCAA penalties. Tennessee Tech has won 10 titles, Austin Peay (which left the conference in July 2022) has won 7, and Belmont (which also left in 2022) and Middle Tennessee (formerly of the conference) have won 6 each.
Results Season Tournament champion Score Tournament runner-up Venue 1982 Tennessee Tech 80–66 Morehead State Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1983 Middle Tennessee State 74–61 Morehead State Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1984 Middle Tennessee State (2) 71–61 Tennessee Tech Murfreesboro, TN (Murphy Center) 1985 Middle Tennessee State (3) 67–61 Tennessee Tech Murfreesboro, TN (Murphy Center) 1986 Middle Tennessee State (4) 66–63 Tennessee Tech Murfreesboro, TN (Murphy Center) 1987 Tennessee Tech (2) 71–67 Middle Tennessee State Murfreesboro, TN (Murphy Center) 1988 Middle Tennessee State (5) 79–62 Tennessee Tech Murfreesboro, TN (Murphy Center) 1989 Tennessee Tech (3) 80–79 Murray State Murfreesboro, TN (Murphy Center) 1990 Tennessee Tech (4) 79–72 Murray State Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1991 Tennessee Tech (5) 84–59 Middle Tennessee State Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1992 Tennessee Tech (6) 81–74 Eastern Kentucky Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1993 Tennessee Tech (7) 80–73 Middle Tennessee State Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1994 Tennessee State 71–63 Tennessee Tech Cookeville, TN (Eblen Center) 1995 Tennessee State (2) 66–63 Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 1996 Austin Peay 69–60 Middle Tennessee State Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 1997 Eastern Kentucky 69–65 Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 1998 Middle Tennessee State (6) 59–58 UT Martin Nashville, TN (Nashville Arena) 1999 Tennessee Tech (8) 86–83 UT Martin Nashville, TN (Nashville Arena) 2000 Tennessee Tech (9) 89–80 Austin Peay Nashville, TN (Gaylord Entertainment Center) 2001 Austin Peay (2) 65–63 Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Gaylord Entertainment Center) 2002 Austin Peay (3) 85–83 Tennessee Tech Louisville, KY (Kentucky International Convention Center) 2003 Austin Peay (4) 85–61 Southeast Missouri State Nashville, TN (Gaylord Entertainment Center) 2004 Austin Peay (5) 65–51 Eastern Kentucky Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 2005 Eastern Kentucky (2) 84–73 (2OT) Southeast Missouri State Nashville, TN (Gaylord Entertainment Center) 2006 Southeast Missouri State † 71–50 Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Gaylord Entertainment Center) 2007 Southeast Missouri State 62–60 Murray State Nashville, TN (Gaylord Entertainment Center) 2008 Murray State 69–58 Eastern Illinois Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 2009 Austin Peay (6) 69–65 (2OT) Eastern Illinois Nashville, TN (Sommet Center) 2010 Austin Peay (7) 69–60 Eastern Illinois Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena) 2011 UT Martin 82–76 Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 2012 UT Martin (2) 82–65 Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium)2013 UT Martin (3) 87–80 (OT) Tennessee Tech Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium)2014 UT Martin (4) 78–66 Belmont Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium) 2015 Tennessee State (3) 64–60 UT Martin Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium)2016 Belmont 95–63 Eastern Kentucky Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium)2017 Belmont (2) 94–64 Eastern Kentucky Nashville, TN (Nashville Municipal Auditorium)2018 Belmont (3) 63–56 UT Martin Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2019 Belmont (4) 59–53 UT Martin Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2020 Southeast Missouri State (2) 67–47 UT Martin Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2021 Belmont (5) 83–75 UT Martin Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2022 Belmont (6) 51–29 Tennessee Tech Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2023Tennessee Tech (10)54–46Little Rock Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2024Southern Indiana83–51UT Martin Evansville, IN (Ford Center)2025Tennessee Tech (11)82-76 (OT)Lindenwood Evansville, IN (Ford Center) 2026 Western Illinois (1) 71–65 Lindenwood Evansville, IN (Ford Center)
List of championships by school SchoolChampionships Championship YearsTennessee Tech111982, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2023, 2025Austin Peay71996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010Belmont62016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022Middle Tennessee61983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1998UT Martin42011, 2012, 2013, 2014Tennessee State31994, 1995, 2015Eastern Kentucky21997, 2005Southeast Missouri State22006†, 2007, 2020 Western Illinois 1 2026 Southern Indiana 1 2024Murray State12008Morehead State11979Eastern Illinois0Jacksonville State0 Lindenwood 0 Little Rock 0 SIU Edwardsville 0 Schools highlighted in pink are former members of the Ohio Valley Conference
See also Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament
References