2016–17 Rice Owls women's basketball team

The 2016–17 Rice Owls women's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Owls, led by second year head coach Tina Langley, played their home games at the Tudor Fieldhouse and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 22–13, 8–10 in C-USA play to finish in a 3 way tie for eighth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the C-USA women's tournament where they lost to Middle Tennessee. They were invited to the WBI where they defeat Lamar, Texas–Rio Grande Valley, Idaho and UNC Greensboro to become champions of the Women's Basketball Invitational.

2016–17 Rice Owls women's basketball
Women's Basketball Invitational champions
Conference	Conference USA
Record	22–13 (8–10 C-USA)
Head coach	Tina Langley (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Josh Hutchinson Angie Nelp Sydney Colson
Home arena	Tudor Fieldhouse

2016–17 Conference USA women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
WKU †	16	–	2		.889			27	–	8		.771
Middle Tennessee	15	–	3		.833			23	–	11		.676
Southern Miss	13	–	5		.722			23	–	11		.676
Charlotte	12	–	6		.667			21	–	10		.677
Louisiana Tech	12	–	6		.667			18	–	14		.563
Old Dominion	11	–	7		.611			17	–	14		.548
UTSA	10	–	8		.556			14	–	17		.452
Rice	8	–	10		.444			22	–	13		.629
UAB	8	–	10		.444			15	–	15		.500
North Texas	8	–	10		.444			12	–	19		.387
Marshall	5	–	13		.278			13	–	17		.433
UTEP	5	–	13		.278			8	–	23		.258
FIU	3	–	15		.167			5	–	24		.172
Florida Atlantic	0	–	18		.000			4	–	25		.138
† 2017 C-USA Tournament winner As of March 26, 2017 Rankings from AP poll

Roster

2016–17 Rice Owls women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 2 Tayler Bennett 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr St. Anthony HS Long Beach, CA G 3 Maya Hawkins 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Sr Lake Ridge HS Mansfield, TX G 5 Lauren Grigsby 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So Dekaney HS Spring, TX G 10 Wendy Knight 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Jr Reagan HS San Antonio, TX F 11 Lexie Ducat 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) So Brock HS Brock, TX G 13 Jazz Taylor 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) RS Fr Duncanville HS Dallas, TX G 20 Shani Rainey 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Lovejoy HS Fairview, TX G 21 Gabrielle Stanton 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) So Kingwood HS Kingwood, TX G/F 22 Nicole Iademarco 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) RS So The Woodlands HS Arizona State The Woodlands, TX G 25 Kendall Ellig 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Liberty Christian School Flower Mound, TX F 33 Jasmine Goodwine 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sr Killeen HS Killeen, TX C 40 Gabby Ozoude 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Fr Bellbrook HS Bellbrook, OH G/F 44 Adaeze Obinnah 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sr Grandview HS Aurora, CO G Erica Ogwumike (I)  5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Cypress Woods HS Pepperdine Cypress, TX F Olivia Ogwumike (I)  5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Jr Cypress Woods Pepperdine Cypress, TX	Head coach Tina Langley (West Alabama) Assistant coach(es) Josh Hutchinson (Messiah) Angie Nelp (Colorado State) Sydney Colson (Texas A&M) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Rankings

Regular Season Polls

Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Final
AP
Coaches

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		No Change
(RV)		Received Votes

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/04/2016* 7:00 pm		Concordia	W 101–46		Tudor Fieldhouse  Houston, TX
Non-conference regular season
11/11/2016* 7:00 pm		Prairie View A&M	W 68–57	1–0	Tudor Fieldhouse (459) Houston, TX
11/16/2016* 7:00 pm		at LSU	L 55–66	1–1	Maravich Center (1,602) Baton Rouge, LA
11/19/2016* 2:00 pm		at Houston Baptist	W 79–53	2–1	Sharp Gymnasium (522) Houston, TX
11/22/2016* 7:00 pm		Grand Canyon	W 64–50	3–1	Tudor Fieldhouse (498) Houston, TX
11/26/2016* 1:00 pm		at Oklahoma State	L 51–65	3–2	Gallagher-Iba Arena (2,057) Stillwater, OK
11/29/2016* 7:00 pm		Sam Houston State	W 77–51	4–2	Tudor Fieldhouse (310) Houston, TX
12/03/2016* 1:00 pm		at Incarnate Word	W 60–43	5–2	McDermott Center (632) San Antonio, TX
12/11/2016* 2:00 pm		at Texas Southern	W 52–49	6–2	Health and Physical Education Arena (338) Houston, TX
12/15/2016* 7:00 pm		Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	W 70–36	7–2	Tudor Fieldhouse (370) Houston, TX
12/18/2016* 2:00 pm		at Louisiana–Monroe	W 93–50	8–2	Fant–Ewing Coliseum (512) Monroe, LA
12/21/2016* 5:00 pm		Huston–Tillotson	W 96–62	9–2	Tudor Fieldhouse (512) Houston, TX
Conference USA regular season
12/30/2016 5:00 pm		Old Dominion	L 47–59	9–3 (0–1)	Tudor Fieldhouse (393) Houston, TX
01/01/2017 1:00 pm		Charlotte	L 51–69	9–4 (0–2)	Tudor Fieldhouse (322) Houston, TX
01/05/2017 6:00 pm		at Middle Tennessee	L 61–71	9–5 (0–3)	Murphy Center (2,806) Murfreesboro, TN
01/08/2017 2:00 pm		at UAB Postponed from 01/07/2017	L 61–62 OT	9–6 (0–4)	Bartow Arena (284) Birmingham, AL
01/14/2017 3:00 pm		at North Texas	W 54–49	10–6 (1–4)	The Super Pit (1,073) Denton, TX
01/19/2017 7:00 pm		Louisiana Tech	L 67–70 OT	10–7 (1–5)	Tudor Fieldhouse (464) Houston, TX
01/21/2017 2:00 pm		Southern Miss	W 76–68	11–7 (2–5)	Tudor Fieldhouse (609) Houston, TX
01/26/2017 6:00 pm		at Old Dominion	L 66–81	11–8 (2–6)	Ted Constant Convocation Center (1,627) Norfolk, VA
01/28/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Charlotte	W 55–52	12–8 (3–6)	Dale F. Halton Arena (1,464) Charlotte, NC
02/04/2017 2:00 pm		North Texas	L 69–77 OT	12–9 (3–7)	Tudor Fieldhouse (510) Houston, TX
02/09/2017 7:00 pm		FIU	W 74–55	13–9 (4–7)	Tudor Fieldhouse (312) Houston, TX
02/11/2017 2:00 pm		Florida Atlantic	W 89–55	14–9 (5–7)	Tudor Fieldhouse (701) Houston, TX
02/16/2017 7:00 pm		at UTSA	W 66–61	15–9 (6–7)	Convocation Center (386) San Antonio, TX
02/18/2017 3:00 pm		at UTEP	W 80–76	16–9 (7–7)	Don Haskins Center (1,422) El Paso, TX
02/23/2017 6:00 pm		at Southern Miss	L 60–79	16–10 (7–8)	Reed Green Coliseum (1,237) Hattiesburg, MS
02/25/2017 7:00 pm		at Louisiana Tech	L 51–62	16–11 (7–9)	Thomas Assembly Center (2,025) Ruston, LA
03/02/2017 7:00 pm		Marshall	W 84–74	17–11 (8–9)	Tudor Fieldhouse (430) Houston, TX
03/04/2017 2:00 pm		WKU	L 75–80	17–12 (8–10)	Tudor Fieldhouse (829) Houston, TX
Conference USA Women's Tournament
03/08/2017 6:30 pm		vs. UTSA First Round	W 75–63	18–12	Bartow Arena (1,001) Birmingham, AL
03/09/2017 6:30 pm		vs. Middle Tennessee Quarterfinals	L 59–61	18–13	Bartow Arena  Birmingham, AL
WBI
03/16/2017* 7:00 pm		Lamar First Round	W 73–72	19–13	Tudor Fieldhouse (306) Houston, TX
03/19/2017* 2:00 pm		Texas–Rio Grande Valley Quarterfinals	W 73–63	20–13	Tudor Fieldhouse (460) Houston, TX
03/23/2017* 7:00 pm		Idaho Semifinals	W 86–80	21–13	Tudor Fieldhouse (287) Houston, TX
03/26/2017* 4:00 pm		UNC Greensboro Championship Game	W 74–62	22–13	Tudor Fieldhouse (532) Houston, TX
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

See also

2016–17 Rice Owls men's basketball team