| Year: | 2023 |
| Conference: | Northeast Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Women's |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Arena: | Campus sites |
| Champions: | Sacred Heart |
| Titlecount: | 4th |
| Coach: | Jessica Mannetti |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Television: | NEC Front Row, ESPN3, ESPNU |
The 2023 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was the postseason women's basketball tournament for the Northeast Conference for the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The tournament took place on three dates between March 6, 9 and March 12, 2023, and all tournament games were played on home arenas of the higher-seeded school. The tournament winner received the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
All eight eligible teams of the nine members of the conference qualified. Effective for the 2022–23 academic year, NEC teams transitioning from Division II were eligible for the NEC tournament during their third and fourth years of the transition period.[1] If a reclassifying institution won the NEC tournament championship, the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament went to the NEC tournament runner up. The rule change regarding reclassifying institutions resulted in Merrimack being eligible for the 2023 NEC tournament, since it is in its fourth transition year.
Teams were seeded by record within the conference,[2] with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.[3]
Stonehill College joined the Northeast Conference from the Division II Northeast-10 Conference. Stonehill was ineligible for the NCAA tournament until the 2026–27 season during its four-year reclassification period and won't be eligible for the NEC tournament until the 2024–25 season.[4]
| Seed | School | Conf. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairleigh Dickinson | 14-2 | |
| 2 | Sacred Heart | 12-4 | |
| 3 | Merrimack | 10-6 | |
| 4 | St. Francis Brooklyn | 9-7 | |
| 5 | Wagner | 8-8 | |
| 6 | Saint Francis (PA) | 6-10 | |
| 7 | LIU | 5-11 | |
| 8 | Central Connecticut | 3-13 |
| Session | Game[5] | Time* | Matchup | Score | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Monday, March 6 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 7:00 pm | No. 8 Central Connecticut at No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson | 48-74 | NEC Front Row | |
| 2 | 7:00 pm | No. 7 LIU at No. 2 Sacred Heart | 44-63 | |||
| 2 | 3 | 7:00 pm | No. 6 Saint Francis (PA) at No. 3 Merrimack | 60-66 | ||
| 4 | 7:00 pm | No. 5 Wagner at No. 4 St. Francis Brooklyn | 51-58 | |||
| Semifinals – Thursday, March 9 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 7:00 pm | No. 4 St. Francis Brooklyn at No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson | 40-59 | SNY, ESPN3 | |
| 6 | 7:00 pm | No. 3 Merrimack at No. 2 Sacred Heart | 61-68 | |||
| Championship – Sunday, March 12 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 12:00 pm | No. 2 Sacred Heart at No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson | 72-60 | ESPN3/ESPNU | |
| ||||||
Teams were reseeded after each round with highest remaining seeds receiving home court advantage.