| Northeast Conference women's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Conference basketball championship | |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Conference | Northeast Conference |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament |
| Played | 1986–present |
| Last contest | 2025 |
| Current champion | Farleigh Dickinson |
| Most championships | Saint Francis (PA) (12) |
| Official website | Northeast Conference Basketball |
| Host locations | |
| Campus sites (1987–present) | |
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. [1] 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. [2] 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.
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Monmouth (1) | 92–65 | Fairleigh Dickinson | West Long Branch, NJ |
| 1988 | Robert Morris (1) | 63–60 | Monmouth | |
| 1989 | Wagner (1) | 66–60 | Robert Morris | Staten Island, NY |
| 1990 | Fairleigh Dickinson (1) | 70–65 | Mount St. Mary's | Emmitsburg, MD |
| 1991 | Robert Morris (2) | 69–61 | Wagner | |
| 1992 | Fairleigh Dickinson (2) | 78–55 | Mount St. Mary's | |
| 1993 | Mount St. Mary's (1) | 82–61 | Marist | Teaneck, NJ |
| 1994 | Mount St. Mary's (2) | 78–67 | Saint Francis (PA) | Emmitsburg, MD |
| 1995 | Mount St. Mary's (3) | 80–61 | Saint Francis (PA) | |
| 1996 | Saint Francis (PA) (1) | 83–75 | Mount St. Mary's | |
| 1997 | Saint Francis (PA) (2) | 54–42 | Monmouth | Loretto, PA |
| 1998 | Saint Francis (PA) (3) | 74–49 | Wagner | |
| 1999 | Saint Francis (PA) (4) | 88–76 | Monmouth | Staten Island, NY |
| 2000 | Saint Francis (PA) (5) | 74–60 | Wagner | Trenton, NJ |
| 2001 | Long Island (1) | 70–61 | Mount St. Mary's | |
| 2002 | Saint Francis (PA) (6) | 74–54 | Long Island | Loretto, PA |
| 2003 | Saint Francis (PA) (7) | 58–41 | UMBC | |
| 2004 | Saint Francis (PA) (8) | 70–55 | Monmouth | |
| 2005 | Saint Francis (PA) (9) | 65–50 | Robert Morris | |
| 2006 | Sacred Heart (1) | 69–65 | Quinnipiac | Fairfield, CT |
| 2007 | Robert Morris (3) | 68–66 | Sacred Heart | |
| 2008 | Robert Morris (4) | 86–75 | Long Island | Moon Township, PA |
| 2009 | Sacred Heart (2) | 74–66 | Saint Francis (PA) | Fairfield, CT |
| 2010 | Saint Francis (PA) (10) | 77–68 | Long Island | Brooklyn, NY |
| 2011 | Saint Francis (PA) (11) | 72–57 | Monmouth | Loretto, PA |
| 2012 | Sacred Heart (3) | 58–48 | Monmouth | Fairfield, CT |
| 2013 | Quinnipiac (1) | 72–33 | Saint Francis (PA) | Hampden, CT |
| 2014 | Robert Morris (5) | 78–64 | Saint Francis (PA) | Moon Township, PA |
| 2015 | St. Francis Brooklyn (1) | 77–62 | Robert Morris | |
| 2016 | Robert Morris (6) | 56–51 | Sacred Heart | Fairfield, CT |
| 2017 | Robert Morris (7) | 65–52 | Bryant | Moon Township, PA |
| 2018 | Saint Francis (PA) (12) | 66–56 | Robert Morris | Loretto, PA |
| 2019 | Robert Morris (8) | 65–54 | Saint Francis (PA) | Moon Township, PA |
| 2020 | Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2021 | Mount St. Mary's (4) | 70–38 | Wagner | Emmitsburg, MD |
| 2022 | Mount St. Mary's (5) | 60–42 | Bryant | |
| 2023 | Sacred Heart (4) | 72–60 | Fairleigh Dickinson | Hackensack, NJ |
| 2024 | Sacred Heart (5) | 69–48 | Le Moyne | Fairfield, CT |
| 2025 | Farleigh Dickinson (3) | 66-49 | Stonehill | Hackensack, NJ |
| School | Championships | Championship Years |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Francis (PA) | 12 | 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2018 |
| Robert Morris | 8 | 1988, 1991, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 |
| Mount St. Mary's | 5 | 1993, 1994, 1995, 2021, 2022 |
| Sacred Heart | 5 | 2006, 2009, 2012, 2023, 2024 |
| Fairleigh Dickinson | 3 | 1990, 1992, 2025 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | 1 | 2015 |
| Wagner | 1 | 1989 |
| LIU | 1 | 2001 |
| Monmouth | 1 | 1987 |
| Quinnipiac | 1 | 2013 |