2017 Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament

The 2017 Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, a part of the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, took place March 9–12, 2017 at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. The winner of the tournament, the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears, received the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

2017 Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2016–17
Teams	8
Site	Merrell Center Katy, Texas
Champions	Central Arkansas (2nd title)
Winning coach	Sandra Rushing (2nd title)
MVP	Maggie Proffitt (Central Arkansas)
Television	ESPN3/CBSSN
Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournaments

2016–17 Southland Conference women's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Central Arkansas†	16	–	2		.889			26	–	5		.839
Abilene Christian*	16	–	2		.889			23	–	9		.719
Lamar	15	–	3		.833			22	–	8		.733
Stephen F. Austin	14	–	4		.778			25	–	8		.758
New Orleans	9	–	9		.500			14	–	15		.483
McNeese State	8	–	10		.444			14	–	17		.452
Texas A&M-CC	8	–	10		.444			14	–	18		.438
Northwestern State	7	–	11		.389			13	–	17		.433
Nicholls State	7	–	11		.389			10	–	20		.333
Incarnate Word*	7	–	11		.389			9	–	20		.310
Houston Baptist	4	–	14		.222			6	–	22		.214
SE Louisiana	3	–	15		.167			5	–	24		.172
Sam Houston State	3	–	15		.167			3	–	25		.107
† 2017 Southland Tournament winner As of March 20, 2017 *ineligible for conference and NCAA tournament postseason play due to Div. I transition; Rankings from AP Poll

Seeds and regular season standings

Only the Top 8 teams advanced to the Southland Conference Tournament. The co-regular season champion Abilene Christian Wildcats were ineligible for the NCAA Tourney. Their seed fell to the next eligible team. Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word were ineligible for post-season play as they were in the final year of a 4-year transition from D2 to D1.[1][2] They will be eligible for the Southland tourney in 2018. This chart shows all the teams records and standings and explains why teams advanced to the conference tourney or finished in certain tiebreaking positions.

2017 Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed	School	Conference record	Overall record (end of regular season)	Tiebreaker
1.	Central Arkansas	16-2	24–4
2.	Lamar	15-3	22-6
3.	Stephen F. Austin	14–4	23–6
4.	New Orleans	9-9	14-14
5.	Texas A&M-CC	8-10	12-17	1-0 vs. McNeese State
6.	McNeese State	8-10	13–16	0-1 vs. TXAMCC
7.	Northwestern State	7-11	13-16	2-0 vs. Nicholls State/Incarnate Word
8.	Nicholls State	7-11	10-19	Incarnate Word still in-eligible
‡ – Southland Conference regular season champions. * – Received a first-round and second-round bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Overall record are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

Source:

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup^#	Television
First round – Thursday, March 9
1	1	11:00 am	#5 Texas A&M-CC vs. #8 Nicholls State	ESPN3
	2	1:30 pm	#6 McNeese State vs. #7 Northwestern State
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 10
2	3	11:00 am	#4 New Orleans vs. #5 Texas A&M-CC	ESPN3
	4	1:30 pm	#3 Stephen F. Austin vs. #6 McNeese State
Semifinals – Saturday, March 11
3	5	1:00 pm	#1 Central Arkansas vs. #5 Texas A&M CC	ESPN3
	6	3:30 pm	#2 Lamar vs. #3 SFA
Championship – Sunday, March 12
4	7	12:00 pm	#1 Central Arkansas vs. #3 SFA	CBSSN
*Game times in CST. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First Round Thursday, March 9 ESPN3[3]					Quarterfinals Friday, March 10 ESPN3[4]					Semifinals Saturday, March 11 ESPN3[5]					Championship Game Sunday, March 12 CBSSN[6]
											1	Central Arkansas	62
											5	Texas A&M CC	44
						4	New Orleans	77
	5	Texas A&M-CC	57			5	Texas A&M-CC	88
	8	Northwestern State	46													1	Central Arkansas	60
																3	Stephen F Austin	35
											2	Lamar	48
											3	Stephen F. Austin	62
						3	Stephen F. Austin	77
	7	Nicholls	58			6	McNeese State	63
	6	McNeese State	79

First round

ESPN3

March 9 11:00 am

Northwestern State 46, Texas A&M-CC 57
Scoring by half: 20–16, 26–41
Pts: C. Brown; B. Attura: 16 Rebs: S. Abboud: 5 Asts: 3 players: 2		Pts: D. Booth: 14 Rebs: C. Davis: 11 Asts: B. Mbamalu; C. Davis: 4

Merrell Center Katy, TX Referees: Robert Strong, Marlin Ramsey, Chaney Muench

ESPN3

March 9 1:30 pm

Nicholls 58, McNeese State 79
Scoring by half: 21–37, 35–44
Pts: C. Barrios: 17 Rebs: E. White; T. Morrison: 5 Asts: T. Morrison: 2		Pts: F. Haywood: 14 Rebs: F. Haywood: 19 Asts: F. Haywood; C. Davis: 3

Merrell Center Katy, TX Attendance: 604 Referees: Travis Jones, Darren McClure, Jennifer White

Quarterfinals

ESPN3

March 10 11:00 am

Texas A&M-CC 88, New Orleans 77
Scoring by half: 42–46, 28–49
Pts: K. Jones: 26 Rebs: C. Davis: 11 Asts: Three Players: 2		Pts: R. Brown: 21 Rebs: S. Woods: 8 Asts: D. Wright: 5

Merrell Center Katy, TX Referees: Travis Jones, Kelly Johnson, Darren McClure

ESPN3

March 10 1:30 pm

McNeese State 63, Stephen F. Austin 77
Scoring by half: 20–43, 41–36
Pts: V. Rachal: 23 Rebs: F. Haywood: 15 Asts: Three Players: 3		Pts: T. Ross: 24 Rebs: S. Parker: 14 Asts: T. Ross: 4

Merrell Center Katy, TX Attendance: 966 Referees: Eric Koch, Chaney Muench, Britton Sherry

Semifinals

ESPN3

March 11 1:00 pm

Texas A&M-CC 44, Central Arkansas 62
Scoring by half: 20–24, 29–33
Pts: K. Jones: 13 Rebs: U. Jolivette; B. Mbamalu: 5 Asts: Six Players: 1		Pts: M. Proffitt: 21 Rebs: T. Baudoin: 13 Asts: B. Mullins: 6

Merrell Center Katy, TX Referees: Travis Jones, D'Lynn Schertz, Darren McClure

ESPN3

March 11 3:30 pm

Stephen F. Austin 62, Lamar 48
Scoring by half: 30–32, 26–22
Pts: T. Ross: 20 Rebs: S. Parker: 13 Asts: T. Ross: 3		Pts: Four Players: 8 Rebs: K. Bowers: 13 Asts: C. Barrs; A. Miles: 3

Merrell Center Katy, TX Attendance: 1,413 Referees: John Fletcher, Britton Sherry, Shandra Twine

Championship

CBSSN

March 12 12:00 pm

Stephen F. Austin 35, Central Arkansas 60
Scoring by half: 20–15, 27–33
Pts: S. Parker: 11 Rebs: S. Parker: 8 Asts: S. Parker: 2		Pts: M. Proffitt: 21 Rebs: K. Jordan: 13 Asts: B. Mullins: 3

Merrell Center Katy, TX Attendance: 1,073 Referees: Eric Koch, Chaney Muench, Darren McClure

Awards and honors

Source: [7] Tournament MVP: Maggie Proffitt, Central Arkansas

All-Tournament Team:

• Maggie Proffitt, Central Arkansas

• Stevi Parker, Stephen F. Austin
• Taylor Baudoin, Central Arkansas
• Taylor Ross, Stephen F. Austin
• Kassie Jones, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

See also

• 2017 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
• Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament

References

1. Richards, Joey (August 20, 2012). "Abilene Christian offered Southland Conference/ Division I membership". Abilene Reporter.
2. "Incarnate Word to join Southland during transition to D1". NCAA.com. 20 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
3. "NCAAW Basketball Scoreboard". ESPN. March 9, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
4. "NCAAW Basketball Scoreboard". ESPN. March 10, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
5. "NCAAW Basketball Scoreboard". ESPN. March 11, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
6. "NCAAW Basketball Scoreboard". ESPN. March 12, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
7. "Sugar Bears Surge Past SFA For Second Straight Tournament Title". Southland Conference. March 12, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.

External links

• 2017 Southland Conference Men's and Women's Tournament Page