Pac-12 to keep women's tournament in Seattle through 2019

SEATTLE (AP) - The Pac-12 Conference has announced a three-year extension that will keep the women's basketball conference tournament at KeyArena through the 2019 season.

The conference announced the extension on Saturday prior to the semifinals of the 2016 tournament. Seattle has been the host city for the conference tournament since 2013 when low attendance prompted the move from Los Angeles. Last year, the conference announced a one-year extension to keep the 2016 tournament in Seattle before reaching a longer arrangement.

The conference has gotten the attendance spike it hoped for by moving the tournament out of Los Angeles. The league says attendance at the three tournaments held in Seattle have been among the four biggest in conference tournament history.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said the conference chose not to open up the tournament to bids from other potential locations. There was consideration of possibly combining the men's and women's tournaments in Las Vegas, but ultimately the conference decided to keep the two tournaments separate.

The women's tournament will continue to be held the week before the men's event. The women's tournament has previously been held in Eugene, Oregon; San Jose, California and Los Angeles.