2016 WAC Women's Basketball Tournament

The 2016 WAC Women's Basketball Tournament was a tournament which was held on March 9–12, 2016 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The #1 seed in the tournament will receive a first round bye to the semifinals. Grand Canyon did not compete in the 2016 women's basketball tournament. As a D2 to D1 transitioning school, they are ineligible to compete in the NCAA tournament until the 2018 season, so they can not win the conference tournament since the winner received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. However Grand Canyon is eligible to win the regular season title and is eligible to compete in the WNIT or WBI should they be invited. New Mexico State won their 2nd straight WAC Tournament to earn an automatic trip to the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

2016 Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2015–16
Teams	7
Site	Orleans Arena Paradise, Nevada
Champions	New Mexico State (2nd title)
Winning coach	Mark Trakh (2nd title)
MVP	Sasha Weber (New Mexico State)
Attendance	3,289
Television	ESPNU WAC Digital
Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournaments

2015–16 WAC women's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
New Mexico State †	13	–	1		.929			26	–	5		.839
UTRGV	9	–	5		.643			19	–	14		.576
Grand Canyon*	8	–	6		.571			16	–	15		.516
Utah Valley	8	–	6		.571			16	–	15		.516
Cal State Bakersfield	8	–	6		.571			12	–	19		.387
UMKC	5	–	9		.357			10	–	18		.357
Seattle	3	–	11		.214			9	–	21		.300
Chicago State	2	–	12		.143			4	–	25		.138
† 2016 WAC Tournament winner As of March 18, 2016 * Grand Canyon ineligible for WAC Basketball Tournament as part of reclassification from Division II; Rankings from AP Poll

Seeds

2016 WAC Women's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed	School	Conference Record	Overall Record (End of Regular Season)	Tiebreaker
1.	New Mexico State	13–1	24–4
2.	Texas–Rio Grande Valley	9–5	17–12
3.	Cal State Bakersfield	8–6	11–18	1–1 vs. Utah Valley
4.	Utah Valley	8–6	15–14	1–1 vs. Cal State Bakersfield
5.	UMKC	5–9	10–17
6.	Seattle	3–11	9–20
7.	Chicago State	2–12	4–24

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup^#	Television	Attendance
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 9
1	1	2:00 PM	#4 Utah Valley vs. #5 UMKC	WAC DN	894
	2	4:30 PM	#2 Texas–Rio Grande Valley vs. #7 Chicago State
	3	7:00 PM	#3 Cal State Bakersfield vs. #6 Seattle
Semifinals – Friday, March 11
2	4	12:00 PM	#1 New Mexico State vs. #4 Utah Valley	WAC DN	1,618
	5	2:30 PM	#2 Texas–Rio Grande Valley vs. #3 Cal State Bakersfield
Championship Game – Saturday, March 12
3	6	1:00 PM	#1 New Mexico State vs. #2 Texas–Rio Grande Valley	ESPNU	777
*Game Times in PT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 9					Semifinals Friday, March 11					Championship Saturday, March 12
						1	New Mexico State	58
						4	Utah Valley	44
	4	Utah Valley	61
	5	UMKC	53
											1	New Mexico State	80
											2	UTRGV	53
	2	UTRGV	60
	7	Chicago State	52
						2	UTRGV	73^2OT
						3	Cal State Bakersfield	72
	3	Cal State Bakerfield	62
	6	Seattle	55

See also

• 2015–16 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
• WAC Women's Basketball Tournament
• 2015–16 WAC women's basketball season
• 2016 WAC Men's Basketball Tournament

References