2016 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2016 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament involved 64 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the NCAA Division II women's college basketball national champion. It began on March 10, 2016, and concluded with the championship game on April 4, 2016.
The first three rounds were hosted by top-seeded teams in regional play. The eight regional winners met for the quarterfinal and semifinals, better known as the "Elite Eight" and "Final Four" respectively, championship rounds for the second-consecutive year at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The championship game, along with the championship game of the Division I and Division III tournaments, were held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In their first season of NCAA postseason eligibility after transitioning from the NAIA, the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps completed an undefeated season by defeating the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 78–73. The only blemish in the Lady Chaps' season was a 95–39 exhibition loss to eventual Division I champion Connecticut that did not count toward either team's official record.
Participants
Automatic qualifiers
Twenty-four teams qualified for the tournament by winning their conference's automatic bid.| Conference | Team | Appearance | Last bid |
| California Collegiate Athletic Association | Cal State East Bay | 2nd | 1989 |
| Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference | Philadelphia | 9th | 2015 |
| Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Virginia Union | 6th | 2004 |
| Conference Carolinas | Virginia Union | 5th | 2015 |
| East Coast Conference | Queens | 3rd | 2015 |
| Great American Conference | Arkansas Tech | 13th | 2015 |
| Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Ashland | 6th | 2015 |
| Great Lakes Valley Conference | Bellarmine | 15th | 2008 |
| Great Midwest Athletic Conference | Ursuline | 1st | — |
| Great Northwest Athletic Conference | Alaska–Anchorage | 14th | 2015 |
| Gulf South Conference | Delta State | 27th | 2014 |
| Heartland Conference | Lubbock Christian | 1st | — |
| Lone Star Conference | Angelo State | 9th | 2008 |
| Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association | Emporia State | 18th | 2015 |
| Mountain East Conference | Wheeling Jesuit | 3rd | 2006 |
| Northeast-10 Conference | Bentley | 32nd | 2014 |
| Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference | Sioux Falls | 1st | — |
| Pacific West Conference | Azusa Pacific | 1st | — |
| Peach Belt Conference | Lander | 10th | 2015 |
| Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference | California | 13th | 2015 |
| Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference | Colorado State–Pueblo | 8th | 2015 |
| South Atlantic Conference | Wingate | 15th | 2015 |
| Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Benedict | 6th | 2015 |
| Sunshine State Conference | Tampa | 11th | 2014 |
At-large
The remaining 40 bids to the tournament were given to teams at-large.| Team | Appearance | Last bid |
| Academy of Art | 3rd | 2014 |
| American International | 11th | 2008 |
| Anderson | 10th | 2015 |
| Augusta | 4th | 2008 |
| Black Hills State | 1st | — |
| Bloomfield | 2nd | 2014 |
| Cal State Dominguez Hills | 8th | 2015 |
| Cal Baptist | 2nd | 2015 |
| Chowan | 1st | — |
| Clayton State | 11th | 2014 |
| Colorado Mines | 2nd | 2010 |
| Colorado Springs | 2nd | 2015 |
| Columbus State | 9th | 2015 |
| Drury | 13th | 2015 |
| Florida Southern | 11th | 2012 |
| Florida Tech | 9th | 2012 |
| Fort Hays State | 3rd | 2015 |
| Francis Marion | 10th | 2011 |
| Grand Valley State | 11th | 2011 |
| Holy Family | 12th | 2015 |
| Indiana | 10th | 2015 |
| Kentucky State | 4th | 2015 |
| Lewis | 11th | 2015 |
| Missouri Western | 12th | 2007 |
| Montana State–Billings | 13th | 2014 |
| New York Tech | 2nd | 2013 |
| Northern State | 8th | 2015 |
| Nova Southeastern | 5th | 2015 |
| Pittsburg State | 9th | 2015 |
| Quincy | 10th | 2014 |
| Saginaw Valley State | 3rd | 1997 |
| Saint Anselm | 7th | 1999 |
| Shaw | 12th | 2014 |
| Texas Woman's | 2nd | 2011 |
| UC San Diego | 9th | 2013 |
| Union | 2nd | 2015 |
| West Chester | 6th | 2015 |
| West Chester | 14th | 2015 |
| West Texas A&M | 22nd | 2015 |
| Winona State | 3rd | 2011 |