The 2016–17 Cornell Big Red women's basketball team represented Cornell University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season.

The Big Red, led by fifteenth year head coach Dayna Smith, played their home games at Newman Arena and were members of the Ivy League.

This season, the Ivy League will institute conference postseason tournaments.

The tournaments will only award the Ivy League automatic bids for the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments; the official conference championships will continue to be awarded based solely on regular-season results.

The Ivy League playoff will take place March 11 and 12 at the Palestra in Philadelphia.