# 2017–18 Rice Owls women's basketball team

The 2017–18 Rice Owls women's basketball team represented Rice University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Owls, led by third year head coach Tina Langley, played their home games at the Tudor Fieldhouse and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 23–10, 10–6 in C-USA play to finish in a 4 way tie for third place. They advanced to the semifinals of the C-USA women's tournament where they lost to UAB. They revived an at-large bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Texas State in the first round before losing to New Mexico in the second round.

## Previous season

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.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 10* 3:00 p.m. | | at Grand Canyon | W 69–59 | 1–0 | GCU Arena (818) Phoenix, AZ |
| November 12* 2:00 p.m. | | at Northern Arizona | W 88–83 | 2–0 | Walkup Skydome (297) Flagstaff, AZ |
| November 18* 2:00 p.m. | | Houston Baptist | W 67–45 | 3–0 | Tudor Fieldhouse (576) Houston, TX |
| November 21* 6:30 p.m. | | at Sam Houston State | W 79–50 | 4–0 | Bernard Johnson Coliseum (554) Huntsville, TX |
| November 24* 2:00 p.m. | | Little Rock | W 58–51 | 5–0 | Tudor Fieldhouse (336) Houston, TX |
| November 26* 1:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Kansas | L 65–73 | 5–1 | Allen Fieldhouse (1,546) Lawrence, KS |
| November 29* 7:00 p.m. | | at No. 18 Texas A&M | L 76–82 | 5–2 | Reed Arena (3,009) College Station, TX |
| December 9* 2:00 p.m. | | Incarnate Word | W 60–43 | 6–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (562) Houston, TX |
| December 14* 7:00 p.m. | | Louisiana–Monroe | W 63–47 | 7–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (423) Houston, TX |
| December 18* 7:00 p.m. | | at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi | W 67–56 | 8–2 | American Bank Center (331) Corpus Christi, TX |
| December 21* 2:00 p.m. | | at Prairie View A&M | W 88–68 | 9–2 | William J. Nicks Building (110) Prairie View, TX |
| December 30* 2:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Columbia | W 67–44 | 10–2 | Tudor Fieldhouse (802) Houston, TX |
| Conference USA regular season ||||||
| January 5 7:00 p.m., beIN | | at North Texas | W 50–49 | 11–2 (1–0) | UNT Coliseum (1,211) Denton,TX |
| January 7 2:00 p.m. | | UTSA | W 83–52 | 12–2 (2–0) | Tudor Fieldhouse (651) Houston, TX |
| January 11 6:00 p.m. | | at Florida Atlantic | W 67–53 | 13–2 (3–0) | FAU Arena (879) Boca Raton, FL |
| January 13 6:00 p.m. | | at FIU | L 58–68 | 13–3 (3–1) | FIU Arena (346) Miami, FL |
| January 20 6:00 p.m. | | at Charlotte | W 62–55 | 14–3 (4–1) | Dale F. Halton Arena (802) Charlotte, NC |
| January 26 7:00 p.m. | | UTEP | W 56–42 | 15–3 (5–1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (681) Houston, TX |
| January 28 2:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Old Dominion | W 53–45 | 16–3 (6–1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (643) Houston, TX |
| February 1 7:00 p.m., beIN | | Southern Miss | W 62–56 | 17–3 (7–1) | Tudor Fieldhouse (626) Houston, TX |
| February 7 6:30 p.m. | | at Louisiana Tech | L 55–75 | 17–4 (7–2) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,039) Ruston, LA |
| February 10 2:00 p.m. | | Western Kentucky | W 73–58 | 18–4 (8–2) | Tudor Fieldhouse (945) Houston, TX |
| February 15 6:00 p.m. | | at UAB | L 63–70 | 18–5 (8–3) | Bartow Arena (597) Birmingham, AL |
| February 17 2:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Middle Tennessee | L 41–51 | 18–6 (8–4) | Murphy Center (4,235) Murfreesboro, TN |
| February 22 7:00 p.m. | | Marshall | W 87–44 | 19–6 (9–4) | Tudor Fieldhouse (586) Houston, TX |
| February 25 2:00 p.m. | | at UTSA | L 58–62 | 19–7 (9–5) | Convocation Center (609) San Antonio, TX |
| March 1 5:00 p.m. | | Louisiana Tech | L 62–70 | 19–8 (9–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,514) Houston, TX |
| March 3 4:30 p.m., ESPN3 | | North Texas | W 47–45 | 20–8 (10–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (3,524) Houston, TX |
| Conference USA Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 7 11:30 a.m. | (5) | vs. (12) Old Dominion First Round | W 70–48 | 21–8 | The Ford Center at The Star Frisco, TX |
| March 8 11:30 a.m. | (5) | vs. (4) Middle Tennessee Quarterfinals | W 61–53 | 22–8 | The Ford Center at The Star Frisco, TX |
| March 9 5:30 p.m., Stadium | (5) | vs. (1) UAB Semifinals | L 55–67 | 22–9 | The Ford Center at The Star Frisco, TX |
| WNIT ||||||
| March 15* 7:00 p.m. | | Texas State First Round | W 71–60 | 23–9 | Tudor Fieldhouse (320) Houston, TX |
| March 20* 8:00 p.m. | | at New Mexico Second Round | L 73–93 | 23–10 | Dreamstyle Arena (3,302) Albuquerque, NM |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||