# 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.

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | No Change |
| (RV) | Received Votes |

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | 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. ||||||