2026 America East women's basketball tournament

The 2026 America East Women's Basketball Conference tournament was the 2026 postseason women's basketball tournament for the America East Conference. It was held March 5–13, 2026 at the campus sites of the higher seeds. The winner received the conference's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament. The tournament is sponsored by the United States Air Force Reserve and is officially known as the 2026 Air Force Reserve America East Women's Basketball Playoffs.

2026 America East women's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2025–26
Teams	8
Site	Campus sites
Champions	Vermont (9th title)
Winning coach	Alisa Kresge (3rd title)
Television	ESPN+ ESPNU
America East women's basketball tournaments

2025–26 America East Conference women's basketball standings

	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Vermont †	13	–	3		.813			27	–	8		.771
Maine	12	–	4		.750			19	–	13		.594
Binghamton	10	–	6		.625			20	–	13		.606
UMBC	10	–	6		.625			17	–	15		.531
NJIT	9	–	7		.563			19	–	13		.594
Bryant	8	–	8		.500			18	–	12		.600
New Hampshire	4	–	12		.250			10	–	20		.333
Albany	4	–	12		.250			14	–	16		.467
UMass Lowell	2	–	14		.125			8	–	21		.276
† 2026 AmEast tournament winner

Seeds

Eight of the nine America East teams qualified for the tournament. The teams are seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Seed	School	AmEast Record	Tiebreaker
1	Vermont	13–3
2	Maine	12–4
3	Binghamton	10–6	Better non-conference record
4	UMBC	10–6
5	NJIT	9–7
6	Bryant	8–8
7	New Hampshire	4–12	2–0 against Albany
8	Albany	4–12	0–2 against New Hampshire
DNQ	UMass Lowell	2–14

Schedule

Game	Time*	Matchup#	Score	Television
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 5, 2026
1	6:00 p.m.	No. 8 Albany at No. 1 Vermont	40–55	ESPN+
2	6:00 p.m.	No. 7 New Hampshire at No. 2 Maine	58–77
3	6:07 p.m.	No. 6 Bryant at No. 3 Binghamton	44–45
4	6:30 p.m.	No. 5 NJIT at No. 4 UMBC	65–66
Semifinals – Monday, March 9, 2026
5	6:00 p.m.	No. 4 UMBC at No. 1 Vermont	65–682OT	ESPN+
6	6:00 p.m.	No. 3 Binghamton at No. 2 Maine	56–60
Championship – Friday, March 13, 2026
7	5:00 p.m.	No. 2 Maine at No. 1 Vermont	43–61	ESPNU
*Game times in EST for the quarter finals and EDT for the semifinals and championship. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Thursday, March 5, 2026 ESPN+					Semifinals Monday, March 9, 2026 ESPN+					Championship Friday, March 13, 2026 ESPNU
	1	Vermont	55
	8	Albany	40
						1	Vermont	68**
						4	UMBC	65
	2	Maine	77
	7	New Hampshire	58
											1	Vermont	61
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
											2	Maine	43
	3	Binghamton	45
	6	Bryant	44
						2	Maine	60
						3	Binghamton	56
	4	UMBC	66
	5	NJIT	65

* denotes overtime period

See also

• 2026 America East men's basketball tournament