2016–17 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders women's basketball team

The 2016–17 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders women's basketball team represented Middle Tennessee State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Blue Raiders, led by twelfth year head coach Rick Insell, play their home games at the Murphy Center and were third year members of Conference USA. They finished the season 23–11, 15–3 in C-USA play to finish in second place. They advanced to the semifinals of the C-USA women's tournament where they lost to Southern Miss. They received an automatic bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Morehead State and Wake Forest in the first and second rounds before losing to Georgia Tech in the third round.

2016–17 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders women's basketball
WNIT, Third Round
Conference	Conference USA
Record	23–11 (15–3 C-USA)
Head coach	Rick Insell (12th season)
Assistant coaches	Kim Brewton Tom Hodges Shalon Pillow
Home arena	Murphy Center
Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Conference USA women's basketball standings

v t e	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 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown F 00 Alex Johnson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) RS So Blackman HS Murfreesboro, Tennessee G 3 Kyla Allison 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Fr Wekiva HS Orlando, Florida G 5 Abbey Sissom 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Jr Cannon County HS Woodbury, Tennessee G 10 Shayla Middlebrooks 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Fr Elyria HS Elyria, Ohio G 12 Jess Louro 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So St. Rose HS Wall, New Jersey F 13 Jordan Majors 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) So Martin Luther King HS Nashville, Tennessee G 14 Katie Collier 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Webb School of Knoxville Knoxville, Tennessee G 20 Ty Petty 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Sr Riverdale HS Murfreesboro, Tennessee G 21 Mychelle Johnson 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Huntington St. Joseph HS Huntington, West Virginia F 23 Gabby Lyon 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Science Hill HS Johnson City, Tennessee F 24 Rebecca Reuter 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Jr Bradley Central HS Cleveland, Tennessee F 35 Charity Savage 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) Fr Barlett HS Memphis, Tennessee	Head coach Rick Insell (Middle Tennessee) Assistant coach(es) Kim Brewton (Liberty) Tom Hodges (Tennessee Tech) Shalon Pillow (Tennessee) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Rankings

Main article: 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball 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																				N/A
Coaches

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
(RV)		Received Votes

Schedule

^[1]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
10/30/2016* 2:00 pm		Coastal Georgia	W 108–49		Murphy Center (1,836) Murfreesboro, TN
11/03/2016* 5:00 pm		Truett McConnell	W 125–35		Murphy Center (1,624) Murfreesboro, TN
Non-conference regular season
11/11/2016* 6:00 pm		at Virginia	L 51–63	0–1	John Paul Jones Arena (2,837) Charlottesville, VA
11/16/2016* 6:30 pm		No. 5 Louisville	L 72–91	0–2	Murphy Center (4,516) Murfreesboro, TN
11/19/2016* 6:00 pm		at Tennessee Tech	W 73–62	1–2	Eblen Center (952) Cookeville, TN
11/30/2016* 11:00 am		Ohio	L 52–73	1–3	Murphy Center (11,222) Murfreesboro, TN
12/03/2016* 3:00 pm		Tulane	W 62–59	2–3	Murphy Center (2,812) Murfreesboro, TN
12/09/2016* 6:00 pm		at No. 15 Kentucky	L 48–61	2–4	Memorial Coliseum (4,625) Lexington, KY
12/13/2016* 6:30 pm		No. 23 Arizona State	L 48–69	2–5	Murphy Center (2,717) Murfreesboro, TN
12/17/2016* 2:00 pm		Austin Peay	W 82–51	3–5	Murphy Center (2,227) Murfreesboro, TN
12/19/2016* 6:05 pm		at Missouri State	W 71–52	4–5	JQH Arena (2,243) Springfield, MO
12/22/2016* 6:30 pm		Georgia Tech	L 60–61	4–6	Murphy Center (4,222) Murfreesboro, TN
12/28/2016* 6:30 pm		Central Michigan	W 79–69	5–6	Murphy Center (2,911) Murfreesboro, TN
Conference USA regular season
01/01/2017 2:00 pm		at UAB	W 64–61	6–6 (1–0)	Bartow Arena (293) Birmingham, AL
01/05/2017 6:30 pm		Rice	W 71–61	7–6 (2–0)	Murphy Center (2,806) Murfreesboro, TN
01/07/2017 6:00 pm		North Texas	W 60–52	8–6 (3–0)	Murphy Center (3,632) Murfreesboro, TN
01/12/2017 5:00 pm		at Marshall	W 72–63	9–6 (4–0)	Cam Henderson Center (517) Huntington, WV
01/15/2017 2:00 pm, FCS		at WKU	L 51–66	9–7 (4–1)	E. A. Diddle Arena (2,064) Bowling Green, KY
01/19/2017 6:30 pm, ESPN3		FIU	W 95–43	10–7 (5–1)	Murphy Center (2,619) Murfreesboro, TN
01/21/2017 2:00 pm, beIN		Florida Atlantic	W 87–69	11–7 (6–1)	Murphy Center (3,017) Murfreesboro, TN
01/26/2017 6:00 pm		at Southern Miss	L 61–81	11–8 (6–2)	Reed Green Coliseum (1,333) Hattiesburg, MS
01/28/2017 1:00 pm		at Louisiana Tech	W 79–65	12–8 (7–2)	Thomas Assembly Center (1,528) Ruston, LA
02/02/2017 6:30 pm, ESPN3		UTSA	W 77–63	13–8 (8–2)	Murphy Center (3,152) Murfreesboro, TN
02/04/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3		UTEP	W 76–53	14–8 (9–2)	Murphy Center (3,411) Murfreesboro, TN
02/09/2017 6:00 pm		at Old Dominion	W 80–63	15–8 (10–2)	Ted Constant Convocation Center (1,578) Norfolk, VA
02/11/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Charlotte	W 83–81	16–8 (11–2)	Dale F. Halton Arena (1,650) Charlotte, NC
02/16/2017 6:30 pm, beIN		WKU	L 75–82	16–9 (11–3)	Murphy Center (4,027) Murfreesboro, TN
02/18/2017 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Marshall	W 94–69	17–9 (12–3)	Murphy Center (3,411) Murfreesboro, TN
02/25/2017 4:00 pm, ASN		UAB	W 87–56	18–9 (13–3)	Murphy Center (3,505) Murfreesboro, TN
03/02/2017 6:00 pm		at FIU	W 88–53	19–9 (14–3)	FIU Arena (303) Miami, FL
03/04/2017 4:00 pm		at Florida Atlantic	W 71–59	20–9 (15–3)	FAU Arena (510) Boca Raton, FL
Conference USA Women's Tournament
03/09/2017 6:30 pm		vs. Rice Quarterfinals	W 61–59	21–9	Bartow Arena  Birmingham, AL
03/10/2017 7:00 pm, ASN		vs. Southern Miss Semifinals	L 54–59	21–10	Legacy Arena  Birmingham, AL
WNIT
03/16/2017* 8:30 pm		Morehead State First Round	W 67–58	22–10	Murphy Center (2,536) Murfreesboro, TN
03/19/2017* 2:00 pm		Wake Forest Second Round	W 73–66	23–10	Murphy Center (2,519) Murfreesboro, TN
03/23/2017* 6:00 pm		at Georgia Tech Third Round	L 57–70	23–11	Hank McCamish Pavilion (819) Atlanta, GA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

See also

2016–17 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team