The 2021–22 Southwestern Athletic Conference women's basketball season is scheduled to begin with practices in October 2021 followed by the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2021. The conference is scheduled to begin in December 2021. This was the 41st season under the Southwestern Athletic Conference name.

The SWAC tournament is scheduled for March 9–12, 2022 at the Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

Pre-season

Preseason polls

SWAC Coaches' Poll

+Women's Basketball Preseason Poll (Coaches) Place Team Points First place votes 1. Jackson State 255 19 2. Alabama State 238 1 3. Southern 194 1 4. Alabama A&M 190 1 5. Grambling State 147 — 6. Texas Southern 142 ― 7. Alcorn State 118 ― 8. Bethune–Cookman 101 ― 9. Arkansas–Pine Bluff 98 ― 10. Prairie View A&M 93 ― 11. Florida A&M 91 ― 12. Mississippi Valley State 49 ― Source:

SWAC Preseason All-Conference

Preseason All-SWAC First Team

NameSchool Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown (Last School) Dayzsha Rogan Jackson State Sr. G 5'4 Ripley, MS (Northeast) Ayana Emmanuel Alabama State Sr. G 5'9 Fort Lauderdale, FL (Dillard HS) Shmya Ward Alabama State R-Jr. F 6'0 Memphis, TN (Whitehaven HS) Dariauna Lewis Alabama A&M Sr. F 6'1 Omaha, NE (Missouri State) Ameshya Williams Jackson State Sr. C 6'4 Gulfport, MS, (West Harrison HS) Source:

Preseason All-SWAC Second Team

NameSchool Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown (Last School) Ataiya Bridges Texas Southern GS G 5'4 Lanett, AL (Shelton State) Genovea Johnson Southern Jr. G 5'8 Fort Lauderdale, FL (Dillard HS) Deshawna Harper Alabama A&M GS G 5'4 Indianapolis, IN (Heritage HS) Jayla Crawford Alabama State Sr. G 5'7 Birmingham, AL (Huffman HS) Khadijah Brown Arkansas-Pine Bluff R-Sr. C 6'3 Miami, FL (Jacksonville) Source:

Midseason watchlists Below is a table of notable midseason watch lists.

WoodenNaismithLibermanDrysdale MillerMcClainLeslie Wade

Final watchlists Below is a table of notable year end watch lists.

WoodenNaismithLibermanDrysdale MillerMcClainLeslie Wade

Regular season On 30 December 2021 Southwestern Athletic Conference update their COVID-19 protocol. If a team is unable to play due to COVID-19 related issues the match will be counted as a forfeit for the purpose of the conference standings resulting in a loss for the team that caused the cancellation and a win for the opposing team. As per NCAA policy, a COVID-19 related forfeit not change a team's official won-lost record, nor will it impact statistics or coaching records. It will only count for the purpose of the conference standings.

Records against other conferences 2021–22 records against non-conference foes as of (December 30, 2021):

Regular season Power 7 ConferencesRecordAmerican 1–9ACC 0–5Big East 0–3Big Ten 0–4Big 12 0–5Pac-12 0–3SEC 0–20Power 7 Conferences Total 1–49Other NCAA Division 1 ConferencesRecordAmerica East 0–0 A-10 0–2ASUN 0–5Big Sky 0–1Big South 0–0Big West 0–0CAA 0–1C-USA 2–10Horizon 0–0Ivy League 0–0MAAC 0–0MAC 0–1MEAC 1–0MVC 0–1Mountain West 0–3NEC 0–0OVC 1–4Patriot League 0–0SoCon 1–0Southland 3–4Summit League 0–1Sun Belt 3–10WAC 0–1WCC 0–1Other Division I Total 11–45 Division II Total 1–1NCAA Division I Total 12–94NAIA ConferencesRecordAMC 0–0GCAC 1–0GPAC 0–0Independent 1–0NSAA 0–0RRAC 5–0SSAC 1–0Sun Conference 1–0NAIA Total 9–0

Post Season Power 7 ConferencesRecordAmerican 0–0ACC 0–0Big East 0–0Big Ten 0–0Big 12 0–0Pac-12 0–0SEC 0–0Power 7 Conferences Total 0–0Other NCAA Division 1 ConferencesRecordAmerica East 0–0 A-10 0–0ASUN 0–0Big Sky 0–0Big South 0–0Big West 0–0CAA 0–0C-USA 0–0Horizon 0–0Ivy League 0–0MAAC 0–0MAC 0–0MEAC 0–0MVC 0–0Mountain West 0–0NEC 0–0OVC 0–0Patriot League 0–0SoCon 0–0Southland 0–0Summit League 0–0Sun Belt 0–0WAC 0–0WCC 0–0Other Division I Total 0–0 NCAA Division I Total 0–0

Record against ranked non-conference opponents This is a list of games against ranked opponents only (rankings from the AP Poll):

Date Visitor Home Site Significance Score Conference record Nov 11 No. 21 South Florida Yuengling Center ● Tampa, FL ― L 37–72 0–1 Nov 11 No. 23 Texas A&M Reed Arena ● College Station, TX ― L 32–92 0–2 Nov 15 No. 11 Arizona McKale Center ● Tucson, AZ ― L 38–93 0–3 Nov 17 Southern No. 8 Iowa Carver–Hawkeye Arena ● Iowa City, IA ― L 67–87 0–4 Nov 21 Southern No. 14 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum ● Ames, IA ― L 55–96 0–5 Nov 21 No. 17 Florida State Donald L. Tucker Center ● Tallahassee, FL ― L 53–76 0–6 Dec 1 No. 15 Texas Frank Erwin Center ● Austin, TX ― L 64–78 0–7 Dec 8 No. 5 Baylor Ferrell Center ● Waco, TX ― L 40–94 0–8 Dec 9 Texas Southern No. 18 Texas A&M Reed Arena ● College Station, TX ― L 43–88 0–9 Dec 12 Texas Southern No. 24 LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center ● Baton Rouge, LA ― L 55–96 0–10 Dec 15 Alcorn State No. 22 LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center ● Baton Rouge, LA ― L 36–100 0–11 Dec 15 Alabama State No. 24 Ohio State Schottenstein Center ● Columbus, OH ― L 51–97 0–12 Dec 19 No. 12 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum ● Ames, IA ― L 39–108 0–13 Dec 21 Alabama State No. 25 North Carolina Carmichael Arena ● Chapel Hill, NC ― L 47–83 0–14 Dec 29 Alcorn State No. 12 Texas Frank Erwin Center ● Austin, TX Canceled due to COVID-19

Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking

† denotes game was played on neutral site

Postseason

SWAC tournament

Jackson State won the conference tournament from March 9–12, 2022, at the Bartow Arena, Birmingham, AL. The top eight teams from the conference regular season play at the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with ties broken by with a tie–breaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Reference:

NCAA tournament

One team from the conference were selected to participate: Jackson State.

Seed Region School First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship No. 14 Spokane Regional Jackson State –––––1 BidW-L (%):TOTAL:

Index to colors and formattingSWAC member wonSWAC member lost

National Invitation Tournament Three conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, SWAC) rejected their bids to participate WNIT, so SWAC team didn't participate this year WNIT.

Awards and honors

Players of the Week Throughout the conference regular season, the SWAC offices named one or two players of the week each week.

WeekPlayer of the WeekSchool Impact Player of the WeekSchool Ref. Nov. 18Morgan BeachamBethune–CookmanTaylor WilliamsBethune–Cookman Nov. 24Gerlyn Smith Prairie View A&MDeshawna HarperAlabama A&M Dec. 2Mikayla Etienne Mississippi Valley StateKhadijah Brown Arkansas–Pine Bluff Dec. 8Zaay Green Arkansas–Pine Bluff Sade HudsonArkansas–Pine Bluff Dec. 15Nigeria JonesAlabama A&M Dariauna LewisAlabama A&M Dec. 22Dylan HortonFlorida A&MDariauna Lewis (2)Alabama A&M Dec. 29Tynesha Rudolph Alabama StateAlexus Holt Grambling State Jan. 5Dariauna LewisAlabama A&M Maleaha BellFlorida A&M Jan. 12Dylan Horton (2)Florida A&MAmeshya Williams-HollidayJackson State Jan. 19Dylan Horton (3)Florida A&MAndriana AventTexas Southern Jan. 25Dariauna Lewis (2)Alabama A&M Ameshya Williams-Holliday (2)Jackson State Feb. 1Ameshya Williams-HollidayJackson StateAndriana Avent (2)Texas Southern Feb. 8Alexus Holt Grambling State Zaay Green Arkansas–Pine Bluff Feb. 15Ameshya Williams-Holliday (2)Jackson StateAtaiya Bridges Texas Southern Feb. 22Ayana EmmanuelAlabama StateAndriana Avent (3)Texas Southern TBD ― ― ― ― TBD ― ― ― ― TBD ― ― ― ―

Totals per School

School TotalAlabama A&M 6Arkansas–Pine Bluff 4Florida A&M 4Jackson State 4Texas Southern 4Alabama State 2Bethune–Cookman 2Grambling State 2Mississippi Valley State 1Prairie View A&M 1

WNBA draft

The SWAC had one player selected in the WNBA Draft. Ameshya Williams-Holliday from Jackson State selected by Indiana Fever on the 3rd round 25th overall pick. Williams-Holliday was the first player from HBCU, who selected on the WNBA draft since 2002.

Player Team Round Pick # Position School Ameshya Williams-Holliday Indiana Fever 3 25 Center Jackson State

References