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NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2019 schedule: How to watch the games live

Thanks to streaming, you don't need cable or satellite to watch the ladies play on ESPN and ESPN2.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor

Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.

Expertise Laptops, desktops, all-in-one PCs, streaming devices, streaming platforms

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Matt Elliott

March 14, 2019 10:35 a.m. PT

2 min read

William Howard/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

College-aged men don't have a monopoly on March Madness. The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament gets underway this month and promises as much buzzer-beating insanity as the men's tournament.

It's not a foregone conclusion that the University of Connecticut Huskies will dominate the field and win another title this year. In fact, after their remarkable run of winning six titles in the eight years from 2009 through 2016, the UConn women haven't won in two years. As the women's game has grown, talent has spread beyond Storrs, Connecticut and allowed other schools to assemble teams capable of competing with the Huskies. Baylor is currently the top-ranked team in the land, and Notre Dame, South Carolina and Stanford are perennial powers.

The NCAA women's basketball tournament tips off on Friday, March 22. The Women's Final Four takes place on Friday, April 5 with the National Championship to follow on Sunday, April 7. Here's how you can watch the games live, with or without a cable or satellite TV subscription.

What is the tournament schedule?

The tournament begins with 64 teams, and two weeks later only one will be standing.

March 22-25: Rounds 1 and 2
March 29-30: Sweet Sixteen
March 31 to April 1: Elite Eight
April 5: Final Four
April 7: National Championship Game

Which channels are the games on?

The games are broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2.

How can I watch for free?

WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app will have live streams of the games, but you will need to log in with a pay TV account (typically from a cable or satellite TV provider). You can live stream the games with a live-TV streaming service, no cable TV required.

Some things to know about live-TV streaming services:

You'll need a solid internet connection.
You can watch any of them on TV as long as your smart TV has the service's app. You can also watch on your TV using a media streamer, including Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast.
You can also watch on iPhones, Android phones and tablets and PC browsers.
You can sign up and cancel anytime, no contract required.
All of them offer free trial periods, so you can sign up to watch and then cancel.

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Sling TV Orange ($15)

Sling TV's Sling Orange package includes ESPN and ESPN2 and costs usually costs $25 a month, but it's currently discounted at $15 a month for the first three months for new subscribers.

See at Sling TV