Sec Women's Basketball Tournament shapes up as fiercest field yet in Greenville

The sec women's basketball tournament arrives this week in Greenville with a stacked field that could knock off top-seed South Carolina before the NCAA bracket locks. With multiple top-10 teams and an early blowout win in Game 1, the sec women's basketball tournament opened under a spotlight that promises high stakes through Sunday.

Kentucky opened play with a 94-64 victory over Arkansas in Game 1, a concrete early result that sent one team home and put Kentucky into the next pairing. The tournament runs Wednesday through Sunday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, and games will air across, ESPN2 and the SEC Network.

South Carolina arrives as the No. 1 seed and closed the regular season on a 10-game win streak after sneaking past Kentucky late on Sunday. Texas sits at No. 4, with the Longhorns finishing the season 28-3. Half of the top 10 are SEC teams: South Carolina ( No. 3), Texas (No. 4), Vanderbilt, LSU and Oklahoma, making the bracket unusually deep at the top.

Sec Women's Basketball Tournament bracket and schedule

The published bracket sets early matchups and broadcast windows that will decide who meets the conference favorites. Key scheduled games listed for the early rounds include:

• Game 3 | No. 15 Auburn vs. No. 10 Texas A& M | 5: 30 p. m. | SECN
• Game 4 | No. 14 Missouri vs. No. 11 Alabama | 8: 30 p. m. | SECN
• Game 9 | No. 1 South Carolina vs. G5 Winner | 12 p. m. |
• Game 15 | G13 Winner vs. G14 Winner | 3 p. m. |

The full schedule also shows No. 4 LSU slated to play the Game 6 winner at 2: 30 p. m. on, and No. 3 Texas scheduled against the Game 8 winner at 8: 30 p. m. on the SEC Network. The tournament culminates with Game 15 at 3 p. m. on.

Early result and how the bracket could shift

Kentucky’s 94-64 win over Arkansas immediately moved the Wildcats into the contest against No. 8 Georgia in Game 5 at 11 a. m. on the SEC Network. That result is the first concrete matchup update in a bracket that already pits top seeds against potential giant-killers: No. 2 Vanderbilt will face the winner of Game 7 at 6 p. m. on the SEC Network, while No. 1 South Carolina waits to play the Game 5 winner at noon on.

Several individual storylines add texture to the matchups. Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes leads the nation with 27. 1 points per game and has posted 12 30-point games this season — the most by an SEC player this century. LSU, coached by Kim Mulkey, came within seven points of upsetting South Carolina last month. Oklahoma enters with a six-game win streak. The Longhorns’ backcourt of Rori Harmon and Madison Booker, who shot just shy of 51% from the field, helped Texas finish second in the conference.

What’s next in Greenville

The tournament continues with the scheduled early-round games on the SEC Network and channels; notable pairings include No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 Florida at 1: 30 p. m. on the SEC Network and No. 6 Tennessee meeting the Game 4 winner at 8: 30 p. m. on the SEC Network. The bracket’s winners will meet in semifinal games on ESPN2 before the championship on Sunday at 3 p. m. on. Teams that survive the weekend will carry conference positioning into NCAA seeding conversations immediately after the final buzzer.