The Southland Conference's Women’s Basketball Tournament began in 1983, with the winner of the tournament receiving the conference's automatic bid into the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...

. There was no tournament from 1984-1987, but in 1988 the season-ending tradition returned for good, with a format much as in the men's tournament, with opening rounds at the home court of the higher seed, and a designated location thereafter. Starting in 2007, both the men's and women's tournaments were played at the same neutral site, for all rounds. The tournament was held at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

suburb of

Katy, Texas Katy is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in the Greater Katy area, itself forming the western part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Homes and businesses may have Katy postal addresses without being in the City of Katy. The city ...

from 2008 to 2022. Starting in 2023, the event moved to

The Legacy Center The Legacy Center, originally known as the Health and Human Performance Education Complex (or H&HP Complex), is a multi-purpose arena in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on the campus of McNeese State University across the street from the Jack V. Doland ...

on the campus of

McNeese State University McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. M ...

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the county seat, parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles (Louisiana), Lake Char ...

, reportedly as part of a deal that kept McNeese in the Southland after it had been courted by

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

and nearly joined the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

. An extension to 2029 for The Legacy Center to serve as the basketball tournament venue was announced on August 29, 2023.

Tournament results

Performance by school

* In 2024-25, UTRGV first joined the Southland and Stephen F. Austin returned to the SLC after a three-season absence. * Schools highlighted in pink are former members of the Southland

References

{{NCAA women's college basketball tournament navbox

Tournament results

Performance by school

See also

References