| Year: | 2017 |
| Conference: | Southland Conference |
| Division: | I |
| Gender: | Women's |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Arena: | Merrell Center |
| City: | Katy, Texas |
| Champions: | Central Arkansas |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Coach: | Sandra Rushing |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mvp: | Maggie Proffitt |
| Mvpteam: | Central Arkansas |
| Television: | ESPN3/CBSSN |
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.
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. | ||||||
Source:
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Television | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Thursday, March 9 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 11:00 am |
| ESPN3 | ||
| 2 | 1:30 pm |
| ||||
| Quarterfinals – Friday, March 10 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 11:00 am |
| ESPN3 | ||
| 4 | 1:30 pm |
| ||||
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 11 | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 1:00 pm |
| ESPN3 | ||
| 6 | 3:30 pm |
| ||||
| Championship – Sunday, March 12 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 12:00 pm |
| CBSSN | ||
| ||||||
Source: [3] Tournament MVP: Maggie Proffitt, Central Arkansas
All-Tournament Team: