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The stage is set for today’s NCAA women’s basketball final, as UCLA will take on South Carolina for the 2026 March Madness championship trophy.
Quick overview: How to stream the NCAA women’s basketball final online
- when: Sunday 5 April
- time: 12:30 PM PT/3:30 PM ET
- channel: ABC
- Stream online: DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV
Today’s women’s basketball final is broadcast live on ABC and you can watch the Gamecocks vs. Bruins live on TV with any basic cable package that carries a local ABC affiliate. The match will also be broadcast on ESPN.
How to watch the women’s basketball final between UCLA and South Carolina for free online
Don’t have cable? There are several ways to live stream the UCLA vs. South Carolina game online, including ways to stream the March Madness finale for free.

Best choice
DirectTV
To watch the Women’s March Madness championship game online, you’ll need a live TV streaming service that carries the ABC feed. We like DirecTV, which offers more than 120 channels under its “Choice” plan, with prices starting at just $59.99 per month. Don’t want to commit? Get your five-day free trial here and use it to watch the UCLA vs. South Carolina basketball game online for free without cable.

Also keep in mind
Hulu + Live TV
You can also get live streaming of ABC and ESPN through Hulu + Live TV, which adds more than 90 live TV channels in addition to Hulu’s extensive library of on-demand shows and movies. Hulu + Live TV costs $89.99 per month but you can test the service with a free three-day trial here. Use your free trial to stream the UCLA-South Carolina women’s basketball final online for free.
Although there may be free streaming links for March Madness on sites like Reddit, the only official live broadcast of the women’s final is through ABC or ESPN.
Coverage of UCLA vs. South Carolina begins today at 2:30 PM ET with a “Women’s NCAA Tournament Special” presented by Capital One. Nissan’s “Women’s NCAA Tournament Postgame Show” airs live after the finale on ABC and ESPN.
ABC and ESPN are no doubt hoping for big ratings for today’s Women’s March Madness finals. This year’s tournament has been a ratings winner for ESPN, with the broadcaster reporting that viewership numbers for the first round were up nine percent compared to last year. ESPN also reports that viewers spent more than 1.3 billion minutes watching women’s first-round matches, the second-highest total on record (after 2024).
UCLA reached the title game for the first time in program history after the Bruins defeated Texas in a Final Four game. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks outscored the defending champion UConn Huskies, 38-0, in the other semifinal game.
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