2016–17 Northern Illinois Huskies women's basketball team

The 2016–17 Northern Illinois Huskies women's basketball team represented Northern Illinois University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Huskies, led by second-year head coach Lisa Carlsen, played their home games at the Convocation Center in DeKalb, Illinois as members of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 21–12, 12–6 in MAC play to finish in a tie for third place in the West division. They defeated Ohio and Western Michigan in the MAC tournament before losing to Toledo in the championship. They received an at-large bid to the WNIT where they lost in the first round to South Dakota State.

2016–17 Northern Illinois Huskies women's basketball
WNIT, First round
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	West Division
Record	21–12 (12–6 MAC)
Head coach	Lisa Carlsen (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Kierra McCleary John McGinty Stephanie Smith
Home arena	Convocation Center

2016–17 Mid-American Conference women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Kent State	13	–	5		.722			19	–	13		.594
Ohio	12	–	6		.667			22	–	10		.688
Buffalo	10	–	8		.556			22	–	10		.688
Miami (OH)	5	–	13		.278			11	–	21		.344
Bowling Green	4	–	14		.222			8	–	23		.258
Akron	2	–	16		.111			9	–	21		.300
West
Central Michigan	15	–	3		.833			23	–	9		.719
Ball State	14	–	4		.778			21	–	11		.656
Toledo †	12	–	6		.667			25	–	9		.735
Northern Illinois	12	–	6		.667			21	–	12		.636
Western Michigan	8	–	10		.444			19	–	13		.594
Eastern Michigan	1	–	17		.056			6	–	25		.194
† 2017 MAC tournament winner As of March 17, 2017

Previous season

The Huskies finished the 2015–16 season 11–19, 4–14 in MAC play to finished in last place in the West division. They lost to Western Michigan in the first round of the MAC tournament.

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
Nov 5, 2016* 1:00 pm		Lakeland College	W 111–49		Convocation Center (288) DeKalb, IL
Non-conference regular season
Nov 11, 2016* 5:00 pm		at Loyola–Chicago	W 90–70	1–0	Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
Nov 16, 2016* 5:30 pm		Milwaukee	W 114–104 2OT	2–0	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
Nov 19, 2016* 4:30 pm		at Western Illinois	L 79–83	2–1	Western Hall (562) Macomb, IL
Nov 22, 2016* 7:00 pm		Chicago State	W 94–85	3–1	Convocation Center (276) DeKalb, IL
Nov 26, 2016* 6:00 pm		Illinois State	W 108–65	4–1	Convocation Center (1,398) DeKalb, IL
Nov 30, 2016* 7:00 pm		at Drake	L 86–95	4–2	Knapp Center (2,016) Des Moines, IA
Dec 2, 2016* 7:00 pm		at Bradley	W 81–51	5–2	Renaissance Coliseum (661) Peoria, IL
Dec 11, 2016* 2:00 pm		at Iowa State	L 89–97	5–3	Hilton Coliseum (9,825) Ames, IA
Dec 16, 2016* 7:00 pm		SIU Edwardsville	W 97–78	6–3	Convocation Center (304) DeKalb, IL
Dec 19, 2016* 5:30 pm		vs. South Dakota UMKC Classic	L 83–97	6–4	Swinney Recreation Center (220) Kansas City, MO
Dec 20, 2016* 3:30 pm		at UMKC UMKC Classic	W 86–75	7–4	Swinney Recreation Center (200) Kansas City, MO
MAC regular season
Dec 31, 2016 1:00 pm, ESPN3		Eastern Michigan	W 85–73	8–4 (1–0)	Convocation Center (1,086) DeKalb, IL
Jan 4, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Bowling Green	W 89–76	9–4 (2–0)	Stroh Center (1,216) Bowling Green, OH
Jan 7, 2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		Ohio	W 88–80	10–4 (3–0)	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
Jan 11, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Kent State	W 98–97	11–4 (4–0)	M.A.C. Center (240) Kent, OH
Jan 14, 2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Toledo	W 77–73	12–4 (5–0)	Savage Arena (3,758) Toledo, OH
Jan 18, 2017 11:00 am, ESPN3		Akron	W 84–55	12–5 (5–1)	Convocation Center (1,279) DeKalb, IL
Jan 21, 2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		Miami (OH)	W 89–76	13–5 (6–1)	Convocation Center (2,168) DeKalb, IL
Jan 25, 2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Kent State	W 93–72	14–5 (7–1)	Convocation Center (507) DeKalb, IL
Jan 28, 2017 2:30 pm, ESPN3		at Ball State	W 101–96	15–5 (8–1)	Worthen Arena  Muncie, IN
Feb 4, 2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		Western Michigan	W 67–62	16–5 (9–1)	Convocation Center (2,543) DeKalb, IL
Feb 8, 2017 8:00 pm, ESPN3		Central Michigan	L 94–104	16–6 (9–2)	Convocation Center (503) DeKalb, IL
Feb 11, 2017 1:00 pm		at Buffalo	W 89–80	17–6 (10–2)	Alumni Arena (1,532) Buffalo, NY
Feb 15, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Miami (OH)	W 63–61	18–6 (11–2)	Millett Hall  Oxford, OH
Feb 18, 2017 1:00 pm		Ball State	L 84–92	18–7 (11–3)	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
Feb 22, 2017 6:00 pm		at Central Michigan	L 86–109	18–8 (11–4)	McGuirk Arena  Mount Pleasant, MI
Feb 25, 2017 1:30 pm		at Eastern Michigan	W 81–71	19–8 (12–4)	Convocation Center  Ypsilanti, MI
Mar 1, 2017 7:00 pm		Toledo	L 75–79	19–9 (12–5)	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
Mar 4, 2017 2:00 pm		at Western Michigan	L 77–90	19–10 (12–6)	University Arena  Kalamazoo, MI
MAC Tournament
Mar 8, 2017 1:20 pm, ESPN3	(4)	vs. (5) Ohio Quarterfinals	W 72–71	20–10	Quicken Loans Arena  Cleveland, OH
Mar 9, 2017 10:00 am	(4)	vs. (8) Western Michigan Semifinals	W 83–55	21–10	Quicken Loans Arena  Cleveland, OH
Mar 11, 2017 10:00 am, CBSSN	(4)	vs. (6) Toledo Championship	L 71–82	21–11	Quicken Loans Arena (1,589) Cleveland, OH
WNIT
Mar 16, 2017 7:00 pm		at South Dakota State First round	L 84–94	21–12	Frost Arena (2,610) Brookings, SD
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time Source.

See also

• 2016–17 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team