| WNCAAB | 11/25 22:45 | - | [196] South Dakota Women v Northwestern Women [159] | W | 57-73 | |
| WNCAAB | 11/21 23:00 | - | [114] Northwestern Women v DePaul Women [126] | L | 75-78 | |
| WNCAAB | 11/18 01:00 | - | [213] Loyola Chicago Women v Northwestern Women [63] | W | 47-63 | |
| WNCAAB | 11/14 19:00 | - | [155] UC Santa Barbara Women v Northwestern Women [114] | W | 46-72 | |
| WNCAAB | 11/11 01:00 | - | [148] Illinois Chicago Women v Northwestern Women [148] | W | 49-72 | |
| WNCAAB | 03/24 21:00 | 124 | Northwestern Women v Louisville Women | L | 53-62 | |
| WNCAAB | 03/22 20:00 | 122 | Central Florida Women v Northwestern Women | W | 51-62 | |
| WNCAAB | 03/12 19:00 | 2 | [92] Northwestern Women v Maryland Women [8] | L | 52-85 | |
| WNCAAB | 03/11 18:30 | 3 | [92] Northwestern Women v Michigan Women [47] | W | 65-49 | |
| WNCAAB | 03/10 18:00 | 124 | [1051] Illinois Women v Northwestern Women [92] | W | 42-67 | |
| WNCAAB | 03/06 20:00 | - | Michigan Women v Northwestern Women | L | 63-58 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/28 21:00 | - | [13] Maryland Women v Northwestern Women [62] | L | 62-50 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/25 00:00 | - | Illinois Women v Northwestern Women | W | 61-67 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/20 20:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Wisconsin Women | W | 67-54 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/18 00:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Nebraska Women | L | 64-71 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/14 17:30 | - | Northwestern Women v Ohio State Women | D | Postponed | |
| WNCAAB | 02/11 21:00 | - | Rutgers Women v Northwestern Women | L | 70-54 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/07 20:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Michigan State Women | W | 63-60 | |
| WNCAAB | 02/02 01:00 | - | Ohio State Women v Northwestern Women | W | 57-69 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/28 23:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Iowa Women | W | 87-80 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/24 17:00 | - | Indiana Women v Northwestern Women | L | 74-61 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/22 00:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Illinois Women | W | 73-54 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/17 19:00 | - | Penn State Women v Northwestern Women | W | 50-67 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/10 00:00 | - | Iowa Women v Northwestern Women | W | 67-77 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/06 21:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Wisconsin Women | W | 80-55 | |
| WNCAAB | 01/03 22:00 | - | Michigan Women v Northwestern Women | L | 84-63 | |
| WNCAAB | 12/31 19:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Nebraska Women | L | 63-65 | |
| WNCAAB | 12/22 19:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Eastern Kentucky Women | W | 79-50 | |
| WNCAAB | 12/18 00:00 | - | Northwestern Women v Purdue Women | W | 70-54 | |
| WNCAAB | 12/15 02:00 | - | Minnesota Women v Northwestern Women | W | 51-80 |
The Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing Northwestern University. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Wildcats play home basketball games at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the university campus in Evanston, Illinois, but played the 2017–18 season at Beardsley Gym on the nearby campus of Evanston Township High School alongside the Northwestern women’s volleyball team during renovations to Welsh–Ryan Arena . All other Northwestern Athletics home events were played at other on-campus venues, or within the Chicagoland area. However, women’s fencing played their home invite at Notre Dame University
The Wildcats began play in women's basketball in 1975, with Mary DiStanislao as the first head coach, who coached for five seasons, with the final two resulting in appearances in the AIAW Tournament. In 1980, Annette Lynch took over as head coach, leading the team to postseason appearances (AIAW and NCAA) in her first two seasons, with the latter (1981) being the first season in the Big Ten Conference.
In 1984, Don Perrelli became head coach of the Wildcats. In his 15-year tenure, he led the team to 5 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, a Big Ten title in 1990 (with a 24–5 record, 15–3 conference record), and a NWIT appearance. Perrelli retired after the 1998–99 season.
June Olkowski took over, coaching Northwestern for five seasons, but she was fired after finishing 10th or worse each time, never winning more than three conference games. Beth Combs was hired to coach the Wildcats in 2004, but she was fired after four seasons, highlighted with winning only 7 conference games in 4 years and never finishing higher than 10th place.
Joe McKeown was hired for the 2008 season. After a 10th-place finish in his first season, they finished tied for 8th in the conference (good enough to qualify for the WNIT) the following season, their highest finish since the 1998 season. After appearing in the WNIT twice in the following four seasons, the Wildcats returned to the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament in 2015, their first appearance since 1997, in a season where they had their highest finish in the conference (1994) since 1996.