| Year: | 2016 |
| Conference: | Western Athletic Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Women's |
| Teams: | 7 |
| Arena: | Orleans Arena |
| City: | Paradise, Nevada |
| Champions: | New Mexico State |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Coach: | Mark Trakh |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mvp: | Sasha Weber |
| Mvpteam: | New Mexico State |
| Attendance: | 3,289 |
| Television: | ESPNU WAC Digital |
| Different Previous: | 2015 |
| Different Next: | 2017 |
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 second straight WAC Tournament to earn an automatic trip to the 2016 NCAA tournament.[1]
| 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 | |||
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Television | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 9 | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 2:00 PM |
| WAC DN | 894 |
| 2 | 4:30 PM |
| |||
| 3 | 7:00 PM |
| |||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 11 | |||||
| 2 | 4 | 12:00 PM |
| WAC DN | 1,618 |
| 5 | 2:30 PM |
| |||
| Championship Game – Saturday, March 12 | |||||
| 3 | 6 | 1:00 PM |
| ESPNU | 777 |
| |||||