Massachusetts (35-11, 19-0 A-10) is the top seed for the six-team double-elimination tournament, the winner of which earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Championship. The Minutewomen have captured 22 A-10 tournament crowns.

Defending champion Fordham (30-24, 14-6) is the No. 2 seed. The Rams halted Massachusetts' string of six consecutive titles last year.

Massachusetts and Fordham received first-round byes. Wednesday's first-round games match No. 4 George Washington (22-28, 11-9) against No. 5 Charlotte (28-24, 10-10) at 1 p.m. and No. 3 Temple (27-20, 12-6) against No. 6 Saint Joseph's (20-27-1, 9-10-1) at 3:30 p.m. The losing teams will meet in an elimination tilt at 6 p.m.

The top two seeds swing into action Thursday. UMass faces the George Washington-Charlotte winner at 1 p.m., while Fordham takes on the Temple-Saint Joseph's winner at 3:30 p.m. An elimination game is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The two remaining undefeated teams meet Friday at 1 p.m., with the winner advancing to the championship round. Elimination-round games will be played at 3:30 and 6, with the winner of the 6 p.m. contest moving into the championship round.

Should the remaining undefeated team win Saturday's 1 p.m. championship-round game, that team will be the champion. If the team emerging from the elimination round wins, a final game will be played approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the 1 p.m. game.