IRVINE, Calif  - The Big West unveiled its conference slate of women's basketball games for the 2023-24 season, tipping off on Thursday, Dec. 28 with a full weekend to usher out the calendar year. Continuing on this season, the 11 teams across the league will compete in a true home and away double-round robin format with 20 conference contests prior to the 2024 Big West Women's Basketball Championship. 

Non-conference play is set to start on courts across the nation on Monday, Nov. 6, with action against Big West competitors taking place in an 11-week Thursday-Saturday format, culminating on March 9. Some key matchups and storylines to follow in the 2023-24 campaign include:

• Back-to-back defending Big West Championship winner Hawai'i will have a delayed start to the conference slate, with the only bye on Dec. 28. The Rainbow Wahine take to the court for their first Big West game at Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 30. The 'Bows will meet up with championship runners-up UC Santa Barbara first in O'ahu on Jan. 25, and then at the Thunderdome on Feb. 17.
• Long Beach State welcomed new head coach Amy Wright to the program on April 17, bringing over 20 years of coaching experience to the Beach. Most recently, Wright was at Oklahoma for the past two seasons. LBSU will look to continue its momentum after an historic year that was capped by a WNIT appearance. The Beach went 23-10 (17-3 Big West) in 2022-23, the most conference wins for a Long Beach State squad since the 1988-89 season. Like UH, LBSU opens against Cal State Fullerton, with Wright's tenure set to begin at Walter Pyramid.
• UC Irvine made history in 2022-23, earning the program’s first Big West regular-season title and the Anteaters' first postseason victory at San Diego State in the WNIT, despite an injury-depleted roster. UCI was ousted in double-overtime in the quarterfinal round of The Big West Championship by ninth-seeded Cal State Bakersfield. The 'Eaters and `Runners will face off for the first time in the 2023-24 campaign in the first weekend of conference action, when UCI hosts CSUB on Dec. 30. The return game is set for Feb. 17.

In June, The Big West Board of Directors approved an eight-team field for the 2024 Big West Women’s Basketball Championship scheduled for March 13-16, 2024, at The Dollar Loan Center. The eight-team format will automatically advance the top two seeds into the semifinals, and shorten the championship duration by a day to Wednesday through Saturday.

Last year, the Rainbow Wahine fed on the energy of the crowd in a big second-half surge to hoist consecutive trophies in Henderson. UH chipped away at what was once a 15-point advantage for UC Santa Barbara midway through the third quarter and tournament Most Valuable Player Daejah Phillips slipped in for the score and three-point play with just three seconds to play to give the 'Bows the 61-59 victory.  

All Big West regular-season contests are slated for telecast on ESPN+, and additional linear schedules will be announced this fall. Please check ESPN listings for upcoming game schedules and additional information as the season nears.
 

2023 Big West Women's Basketball Conference Schedule
Week 1	Thursday, Dec. 28	Saturday, Dec. 30
	UC Irvine at UC Riverside Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara UC San Diego at Cal State Bakersfield Cal Poly at CSUN	UC Riverside at UC Santa Barbara UC Davis at Cal Poly Hawai'i at Cal State Fullerton Cal State Bakersfield at Hawai'i Long Beach State at CSUN
Week 2	Thursday, Jan. 4	Saturday, Jan. 6
	UC Irvine at Cal State Fullerton UC Santa Barbara at UC San Diego UC Riverside at UC Davis Cal State Bakersfield at Hawai'i Cal Poly at Long Beach State	UC Irvine at UC Davis Cal State Fullerton at UC San Diego Long Beach State at UC Riverside Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara CSUN at Hawai'i
Week 3	Thursday, Jan. 11	Saturday, Jan. 13
	UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Bakersfield UC Riverside at Cal Poly UC Davis at CSUN Hawai'i at UC Irvine UC San Diego at Long Beach State	UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State UC Davis at Cal State Bakersfield Hawai'i at UC Riverside Cal Poly at UC San Diego CSUN at Cal State Fullerton
Week 4	Thursday, Jan. 18	Saturday, Jan. 20
	UC Irvine at UC San Diego Cal State Fullerton at UC Davis Cal State Bakersfield at UC Riverside Long Beach State at Hawai'i CSUN at UC Santa Barbara	UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton UC Riverside at CSUN UC Davis at UC Irvine UC San Diego at Hawai'i Cal State Bakersfield at Cal Poly
Week 5	Thursday, Jan. 25	Saturday, Jan. 27
	Hawai'i at UC Santa Barbara UC San Diego at UC Riverside Long Beach State at UC Irvine Cal Poly at Cal State Fullerton CSUN at Cal State Bakersfield	UC Irvine at CSUN UC Riverside at Long Beach State Cal State Fullerton at Cal State Bakersfield UC Davis at UC San Diego Hawai'i at Cal Poly
Week 6	Thursday, Feb. 1	Saturday, Feb. 3
	UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis Cal State Fullerton at Hawai'i UC San Diego at CSUN Cal State Bakersfield at Long Beach State Cal Poly at UC Irvine	UC Irvine at Hawai'i Cal State Bakersfield at UC Santa Barbara Long Beach State at UC San Diego Cal Poly at UC Davis CSUN at UC Riverside
Week 7	Thursday, Feb. 8	Saturday, Feb. 10
	UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine UC Riverside at Cal State Bakersfield UC Davis at Cal State Fullerton Hawai'i at UC San Diego CSUN at Cal Poly	UC Santa Barbara at CSUN UC Riverside at UC Irvine Hawai'i at UC Davis Cal State Bakersfield at Cal State Fullerton Long Beach State at Cal Poly
Week 8	Thursday, Feb. 15	Saturday, Feb. 17
	Cal State Fullerton at UC Riverside UC Davis at Long Beach State UC San Diego at UC Santa Barbara Cal State Bakersfield at CSUN Cal Poly at Hawai'i	UC Irvine at Cal State Bakersfield UC Santa Barbara at Hawai'i UC Davis at UC Riverside UC San Diego at Cal State Fullerton CSUN at Long Beach State
Week 9	Thursday, Feb. 22	Saturday, Feb. 24
	UC Irvine at UC Santa Barbara UC Riverside at UC San Diego Cal State Fullerton at Cal Poly Long Beach State at Cal State Bakersfield CSUN at UC Davis	Cal State Fullerton at CSUN Hawai'i at Long Beach State UC San Diego at UC Irvine Cal State Bakersfield at UC Davis Cal Poly at UC Riverside
Week 10	Thursday, Feb. 29	Saturday, March 2
	UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly UC Davis at Hawai'i Cal State Bakersfield at UC San Diego Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton CSUN at UC Irvine	UC Irvine at Long Beach State UC Riverside at Hawai'i Cal State Fullerton at UC Santa Barbara Cal Poly at Cal State Bakersfield CSUN at UC San Diego
Week 11	Thursday, March 7	Saturday, March 9
	UC Irvine at Cal Poly UC Riverside at Cal State Fullerton Hawai'i at CSUN UC San Diego at UC Davis Long Beach State at UC Santa Barbara	UC Santa Barbara at UC Riverside Cal State Fullerton at UC Irvine Hawai'i at Cal State Bakersfield UC San Diego at Cal Poly Long Beach State at UC Davis