The 2026 Southland Conference women's basketball tournament was the postseason women's basketball tournament for the 2025–26 season of the Southland Conference. The tournament was held March 9–12, 2026, at The Legacy Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The tournament winner, Stephen F. Austin received the conference's automatic invitation to the 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

Seeds Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tie-breaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Eight teams in the conference qualify for the tournament. The top two seeds received double byes into the semifinals in the merit-based format. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds receive single byes to the quarterfinals. Tie-breakers used were 1) Head-to-head results, 2) comparison of records against individual teams in the conference starting with the top-ranked team(s) and working down and 3) NCAA NET rankings available on day following the conclusion of regular-season play. SeedSchoolConferenceTie-breaker1 McNeese 21–1 2 Lamar 17–5 3 Stephen F. Austin 16–6 2–0 vs. Northwestern State4 UT Rio Grande Valley 16–6 1–1 vs. Northwestern State5 Northwestern State 14–86 Incarnate Word 11–11 7 Nicholls 10–128 East Texas A&M 9–13 DNQ Houston Christian 6–16DNQ Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 5–17DNQ Southeastern Louisiana 4–18 DNQ New Orleans 3–19

Schedule SessionGameTime*Matchup#ScoreTelevisionAttendanceFirst round – Monday, March 9, 20261111:00 a.m.No. 5 Northwestern State vs. No. 8 East Texas A&M69–56ESPN+21:30 p.m.No. 6 Incarnate Word vs. No. 7 Nicholls55–81Quarterfinals – Tuesday, March 10, 20262311:00 a.m.No. 4 UT Rio Grande Valley vs. No. 5 Northwestern State76–67ESPN+41:30 p.m.No. 3 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 7 Nicholls63–60Semifinals – Wednesday, March 11, 20263510:30 a.m.No. 1 McNeese vs. No. 4 UT Rio Grande Valley67–52ESPN+3,24461:30 p.m.No. 2 Lamar vs. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin59–64OTChampionship – Thursday, March 12, 2026474:00 p.m.No. 1 McNeese vs. No. 3 Stephen F. Austin59–71ESPNU*Game times in CDT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

* denotes overtime period

See also 2026 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament

References