1986 Pacific Coast Athletic Association women's basketball tournament

The 1986 Pacific Coast Athletic Association women's basketball tournament took place March 6–8, 1986. The quarterfinal round was played at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California, while the semifinals and championship were held at The Forum in Inglewood, California. UNLV won the tournament title for the third straight time and received the conference's automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.

1986 Pacific Coast Athletic Association women's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	8
Site	The Forum Inglewood, California
Quarterfinals site	Long Beach Arena Long Beach, California
Champions	UNLV (3rd title)
Winning coach	Jim Bolla and Sheila Strike (3rd title)
MVP	Misty Thomas (UNLV)
Pacific Coast Athletic Association women's basketball tournaments

1985–86 Pacific Coast Athletic Association women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Long Beach State	14	–	0		1.000			29	–	5		.853
UNLV †	11	–	3		.786			22	–	9		.710
Cal State Fullerton	8	–	6		.571			11	–	18		.379
UC Irvine	6	–	8		.429			14	–	14		.500
San Diego State	6	–	8		.429			14	–	17		.452
Hawaii	5	–	9		.357			12	–	16		.429
Pacific	5	–	9		.357			11	–	17		.393
UC Santa Barbara	1	–	13		.071			6	–	22		.214
† 1986 PCAA tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Format

The top eight teams, out of ten, from the regular season standings qualified for the tournament.

All eight participating teams were placed into the first round, with teams seeded and paired based on regular-season records. After the first round, teams were re-seeded so the highest-remaining team was paired with the lowest-remaining time in one semifinal with the other two teams slotted into the other semifinal.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 6					Semifinals (Re-Seeded) Friday, March 7					Championship game Saturday, March 8
	1	Long Beach State	94
	8	UC Santa Barbara	63
						1	Long Beach State	116
						5	San Diego State	74
	4	UC Irvine	56
	5	San Diego State	73
											1	Long Beach State	89
											2	UNLV	99
	3	Cal State Fullerton	78
	6	Hawaii	69
						3	Cal State Fullerton	75
						2	UNLV	80
	2	UNLV	77
	7	Pacific	70

All-Tournament Team

• Cindy Brown, Long Beach State
• Dee Dee Duncan, San Diego State
• Robin Holmes, Cal State Fullerton
• Donya Moore, UNLV
• Misty Thomas, UNLV (MVP)