| Mode: | Women's basketball |
| Year: | 2021–22 |
| Prev Year: | 2020–21 |
| Next Year: | 2022–23 |
| Team: | Northwestern Wildcats |
| Conference: | Big Ten Conference |
| Record: | 17–12 |
| Conf Record: | 8–8 |
| Short Conf: | Big Ten |
| Head Coach: | Joe McKeown |
| Hc Year: | 14th |
| Asst Coach1: | Kate Popovec |
| Asst Coach2: | Preston Reid |
| Asst Coach3: | Tangela Smith |
| Stadium: | Welsh–Ryan Arena |
The 2021–22 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represented Northwestern University during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats were led by 14th-year head coach Joe McKeown. They played their home games at Welsh–Ryan Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 17–12, 8–8 in Big Ten play to finish in seventh place. They received a bye into the second round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they defeated Minnesota before losing to eventual champions Iowa in the quarterfinals. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.
The Wildcats finished the season 16–9, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place. They received a bye into the second round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they defeated Illinois and Michigan before losing to eventual champions Maryland in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the seven seed in the Alamo Regional they defeated ten seed in the first round before losing to two seed Louisville in the second round to end their season.
Source:[1]
|-!colspan=6 style=| Exhibition|-!colspan=6 style=| Regular season|-!colspan=6 style= |Big Ten Women's Tournament
See main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings.
| Increase in ranking | |||
| Decrease in ranking | |||
| Not ranked previous week | |||
| (RV) | Received Votes | ||
| (NR) | Not Ranked and Did not receive votes | ||
| т | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |
The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.