| 2022–23 Mid-American Conference women's basketball season | |
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| League: | NCAA Division I |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| Pixels: | 200px |
| No Of Teams: | 12 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| League Champs: | Toledo |
| Second Place: | Bowling Green |
| Mvp: | Quinesha Lockett |
| Mvp Link: | Mid-American Conference women's Basketball Player of the Year |
| Playoffs: | 2023 MAC tournament |
| Playoffs Link: | 2023 MAC women's basketball tournament |
| Conf1 Champ: | Toledo |
| Playoffs Mvp: | Quinesha Lockett |
| Finals: | Tournament |
| Finals Link: | 2023 MAC Women's Basketball Tournament |
| Finals Mvp Link: | Mid-American Conference women's basketball tournament |
| Seasonslist: | List of Mid-American women's basketball seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | Mid-American women's basketball |
| Prevseason Year: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason Year: | 2023–24 |
The 2022–23 Mid-American Conference women's basketball season is the season for Mid-American Conference women's basketball teams. It began with practices in October 2022, followed by the start of the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play began in January 2023 and concluded in March 2023. The 2023 MAC tournament was held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio for the 23rd consecutive season.[1]
Toledo won the regular season championship with a 16–2 record and defeated second seeded Bowling Green in the MAC tournament final to earn the conference's automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA tournament.[2] Quinesha Lockett of Toledo was the MVP of both the regular season and the tournament.[3]
On March 26, 2022, Felisha Legette-Jack, who had been the head coach at Buffalo since 2012, was hired as the head coach of her alma mater Syracuse.[4] [5] In 10 years Legette-Jack compiled a 201–114 at Buffalo with three MAC tournament titles, four NCAA tournament appearances, and three NCAA tournament wins. On April 6 Buffalo announced USC Upstate head coach Becky Burke as their new head coach.[6]
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | School record | MAC record | MAC titles | MAC Tournament titles | NCAA tournaments | NCAA Final Fours | NCAA Championships | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style=;" | Akron | Melissa Jackson | Akron (Assoc. HC) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Ball State | Brady Sallee | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| style= | Bowling Green | Robyn Fralick | Ashland | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Buffalo | Becky Burke | USC Upstate | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Central Michigan | Heather Oesterle | Central Michigan (Assoc. HC) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Eastern Michigan | Fred Castro | Washington (Asst.) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Kent State | Todd Starkey | Indiana (Asst.) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Miami | DeUnna Hendrix | High Point | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Northern Illinois | Lisa Carlsen | Lewis | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Ohio | Bob Boldon | Youngstown State | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Toledo | Tricia Cullop | Evansville | 15 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| style= | Western Michigan | Shane Clipfell | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The preseason coaches' poll and league awards were announced by the league office on October 27, 2022.[7] Defending 2021–22 regular season champion Toledo was named the favorite.[8]
| Place | Team | Points | First place votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ! style= width=75 | 143 | 11 | |
| 2. | ! style= width=75 | 130 | 1 | |
| 3. | ! style= width=75 | 109 | -- | |
| 4. | ! style= width=75 | 103 | -- | |
| 5. | ! style= width=75 | 99 | -- | |
| 6. | ! style= width=75 | 91 | -- | |
| 7. | ! style= width=75 | 61 | -- | |
| 8. | ! style= width=112 | 50 | -- | |
| 9. | ! style= width=75 | 46 | -- | |
| 10. | ! style= width=75 | 40 | -- | |
| 11. | ! style= width=75 | 35 | -- | |
| 12. | ! style= width=75 | 29 | -- | |
MAC Tournament champions: Toledo (9), Ball State (3)
| Honor | Recipient |
|---|---|
| Preseason All-MAC First Team | Quinesha Lockett, G, Toledo Sr. |
| A'Jah Davis, F, Northern Illinois Sr. | |
| Ally Becki, G, Ball State, So. | |
| Peyton Scott, G, Miami Sr. | |
| Sophia Wiard, G, Toledo Sr. | |
| Preseason All-MAC Second Team | Lauren Ross, G, Western Michigan, R-So. |
| Chelby Koker, G, Northern Illinois Sr. | |
| Lexi Fleming, G, Bowling Green Jr. | |
| Raegan Bass, F, Akron, So. | |
| Kadie Hempfling, F, Bowling Green Sr. |
The schedule was released in late August.[9]
This is a list of games against ranked opponents only (rankings from the AP Poll):
| Date | Visitor | Home | Site | Significance | Score | Conference record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 7 | Northern Illinois | — | L 48–88 | 0–1 | |||
| Nov 16 | Western Michigan | ― | L 67–99 | 0–2 | |||
| Nov 17 | Ohio | ― | L 56–86 | 0–3 | |||
| Nov 17 | Bowling Green | ― | L 61–96 | 0–4 | |||
| Nov 20 | Ball State | No. 9 Notre Dame | ― | L 60–95 | 0–5 | ||
| Dec 8 | Toledo | No. 14 Michigan | ― | W 71–68 | 1–5 | ||
| Dec 21 | Western Michigan | No. 5 Notre Dame | ― | L 57–85 | 1–6 |
Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking
† denotes game was played on neutral site
See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings.
| Improvement in ranking | ||
| Drop in ranking | ||
| Not ranked previous week | ||
| No change in ranking from previous week | ||
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll | |
| т | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol | |
| Week | Player(s) of the Week | School |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 14[11] | Maddi Cluse | Miami |
| Nov 21[12] | Lauren Ross | Western Michigan |
| Nov 28[13] | A’Jah Davis | Northern Illinois |
| Dec 5[14] | Chelby Koker | Northern Illinois |
| Dec 12[15] | Lauren Ross | Western Michigan |
| Dec 19[16] | Lauren Ross | Western Michigan |
| Dec 26[17] | Zakiyah Winfield | Buffalo |
| Jan 2[18] | Reagan Bass | Akron |
| Jan 9[19] | Rochelle Norris | Central Michigan |
| Jan 16[20] | Quinesha Lockett | Toledo |
| Jan 23[21] | Lauren Ross | Western Michigan |
| Jan 30[22] | Quinesha Lockett | Toledo |
| Feb 6[23] | Taylor Williams | Western Michigan |
| Feb 13[24] | Anna Clephane | Ball State |
| Feb 20[25] | Re’Shawna Stone | Buffalo |
| Feb 27[26] | A’Jah Davis | Northern Illinois |
| Mar 6[27] | Re’Shawna Stone | Buffalo |
See main article: 2023 MAC women's basketball tournament. Toledo defeated Bowling Green in the final to earn the conference's automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA tournament.[2] Quinesha Lockett of Toledo was the MVP.[3]
See main article: 2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. Toledo was placed as the twelfth seed in the Seattle Region 3 of the 2023 NCAA tournament where they defeated Iowa State in the first round.[28] [29] They lost to Tennessee in the second round.[30] [31]
See main article: 2023 Women's National Invitation Tournament. Bowling Green, Ball State, and Kent State accepted bids to the WNIT.[32] Kent State was knocked out in the first round. Ball State lost in the second round. Bowling Green won four games before losing in the semi-finals.[33]
See main article: 2023 Women's Basketball Invitational. Northern Illinois accepted a to the WBI where they lost to Georgia Southern in the first round.[34]
| Honor | Recipient |
|---|---|
| Postseason All-MAC First Team | Quinesha Lockett, Senior, Guard, Toledo |
| A’Jah Davis, Senior, Forward, Northern Illinois | |
| Anna Clephane, Senior, Guard/Forward, Ball State | |
| Elissa Brett, Senior, Guard, Bowling Green | |
| Reagan Bass, Sophomore, Forward, Akron | |
| Postseason All-MAC Second Team | Yaya Felder, Sophomore, Guard, Ohio |
| Re’Shawna Stone, Graduate Student, Guard, Buffalo | |
| Ally Becki, Sophomore, Guard, Ball State | |
| Chelby Koker, Senior, Guard, Northern Illinois | |
| Allison Day, Senior, Forward, Bowling Green | |
| Postseason All-MAC Third Team | Katie Shumate, Senior, Guard, Kent State |
| Peyton Scott, Senior, Guard, Miami | |
| Ivy Wolf, Sophomore, Guard, Miami | |
| Sophia Wiard, Senior, Guard, Toledo | |
| Sydney Harris, Freshman, Guard/Forward, Central Michigan | |
| Postseason All-MAC Honorable Mention | Ce’Nara Skanes, Redshirt Junior, Forward, Eastern Michigan |
| Thelma Dis Augustsdottir, Graduate Student, Guard/Forward, Ball State | |
| Taylor Williams, Redshirt Junior, Forward, Western Michigan | |
| Lauren Ross, Redshirt Sophomore, Guard, Western Michigan | |
| Lindsey Thall, Graduate Student, Forward, Kent State | |
| All-MAC Freshman Team | Sydney Harris, Guard/Forward, Central Michigan |
| Corynne Hauser, Guard, Kent State | |
| Bridget Utberg, Guard, Central Michigan | |
| Olivia Smith, Guard, Eastern Michigan | |
| Jaya McClure, Guard, Ohio | |
| All-MAC Defensive Team | Nyla Hampton, Junior, Guard, Bowling Green |
| Dominique Camp, Senior, Guard, Akron | |
| Khera Goss, Junior, Guard, Toledo | |
| Taylor Williams, Redshirt Junior, Forward, Western Michigan | |
| Elissa Brett, Senior, Guard, Bowling Green | |
2022–23 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season