It’s about time for “out with the old, and in with the new.”

Before we say hello to 2017, let’s look back at some of the biggest women’s sports stories, locally and nationally, of 2016.

10. Not so B1G finish:

The Big Ten dominated the national volleyball rankings from wire to wire in the fall, and had as many as eight teams ranked in the top 25 late in the season. For many weeks, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin rotated among the top three teams in the nation.

But the Big Ten couldn’t seal the deal at the Final Four in December. Nebraska and Minnesota made the Final Four but neither brought home the national championship. That went to Stanford.

9. Winning Wimbledon:

At age 35, tennis star Serena Williams is still going strong. In July, Williams defeated Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon for her 22nd major singles title. That ties the Open Era record for Grand Slam singles titles with Steffi Graf.

8. Repeat is sweet:

For the second consecutive season, the Chicago Bandits, our professional fastpitch softball team, won the NPF championship. They beat the USSSA Pride for the title in August.

It was an interesting season for the Bandits, who overcame a major mid-season slump. In June, the Bandits struggled to eight losses in nine games. The last five of those losses came by a whopping 51-3 margin.

7. Candace’s championship:

Naperville native Candace Parker has won everything else: an IHSA state title, an NCAA championship, an Olympic gold medal.

In October, she finally got a WNBA championship.

After a tough year in which she lost her beloved college coach (Tennessee’s Pat Summitt) and was unceremoniously left off the 2016 Olympic team, Parker finished on a high by leading the Sparks to the championship over the Minnesota Lynx. She scored 28 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the title game.

It was the first WNBA title for Los Angeles since 2002, which was back when Parker was still in high school.

6. Just keep swimming:

The hero of women’s swimming, Katie Ledecky, made swimming at the Olympics a thriller last summer.

She left Rio as the most decorated female athlete of the 2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal and two world records. Ledecky now has 13 world records to her name.

5. Keep them coming, UConn:

Yeah, yeah. Ho-hum. It happened again.

In April, Connecticut won the NCAA women’s basketball national championship, defeating Syracuse for its fourth straight title. Only UCLA (men) has won more consecutive titles with 7 from 1967 to 1973. UConn superstars Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck, the first three picks in the 2016 WNBA Draft, became the only players in NCAA college basketball history, men or women, to win four titles over their careers.

The championship was the 11th overall for Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, moving him past UCLA men’s coach John Wooden.

4. You’re fired, you’re hired:

Despite leading the Chicago Sky to its first playoff appearance in 2013, a WNBA Finals appearance in 2014 and an 18-16 playoff season in 2016, the Sky fired six-year head coach Pokey Chatman in October. Chatman was hired less than three weeks later to be the head coach of the Indiana Fever.

3. No EDD either?

When the Sky fired Pokey Chatman, it was suggested that Sky star Elena Delle Donne wanted to play for a different coach and was pressuring ownership for a change.

How is this for a kick to the stomach? Earlier this month, just weeks after Chatman’s firing, Delle Donne said she would be willing to sit the 2017 season if the Sky won’t trade her.

Oy vey! Seriously?

“Some things will be moving forward for me,” Delle Donne, who averaged 21.5 points per game last season, told VICE Sports. “I’ve loved playing with my teammates. There’s a great group of young women there. And hopefully with (new Sky coach) Amber (Stocks) and a new system, it’ll be great for them. But for me, wherever I end up, I’ll be ready to play basketball.”

The Sky can match any offer from another team for Delle Donne, a restricted free agent. It has been suggested that Delle Donne would like to play for the Washington Mystics in order to be close to her family in Delaware.

“I don’t want to have to sit out,” Delle Donne told VICE. “I want to play the game I love, the game I work so hard on. So hopefully that doesn’t have to occur in my future.”

2. American women roar:

If America’s female Olympic athletes made up their own country, they would have done pretty well at the 2016 Rio Games.

The United States, counting both men and women, won the most overall medals this summer at 121, with the women winning 61 of those. The women won 27 of America’s 46 golds, tying with Britain, which placed second to the United States in gold.

1. Goodbye Pat:

Women’s sports, and basketball in particular, lost one of its biggest names and pioneers in June.

Former Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summitt died at age 64 after a long battle with early onset dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s Disease.

In 38 years at Tennessee, the legendary Summitt won eight national titles and 1,098 games, the most by any Division I basketball coach, male or female. The Lady Vols made 31 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances under her.

Summitt’s influence on the game and the many athletes and coaches she touched is immeasurable.

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey once said of Summitt, “She’s our John Wooden.”

pbabcock@dailyherald.com