2025–26 Baylor Bears women's basketball team

2025–26 Baylor Bears women's basketball
2025–26 Baylor Bears women's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 15
AP	No. 15
Record	11–2 (0–0 Big 12)
Head coach	Nicki Collen (5th season);
Associate head coach	Tony Greene; Johnnie Harris
Assistant coaches	Aaron Sternecker; Jaelyn Richard Harris; Tez Dumars;
Home arena	Foster Pavilion

2025–26 Big 12 Conference women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Arizona State	0	–	0	–	13	–	0	1.000
Texas Tech	0	–	0	–	13	–	0	1.000
No. 10 Iowa State	0	–	0	–	12	–	0	1.000
No. 9 TCU	0	–	0	–	12	–	0	1.000
BYU	0	–	0	–	11	–	1	.917
No. 15 Baylor	0	–	0	–	11	–	2	.846
Oklahoma State	0	–	0	–	11	–	2	.846
Kansas	0	–	0	–	10	–	2	.833
West Virginia	0	–	0	–	10	–	2	.833
Arizona	0	–	0	–	9	–	2	.818
Colorado	0	–	0	–	9	–	3	.750
Utah	0	–	0	–	9	–	3	.750
UCF	0	–	0	–	8	–	3	.727
Houston	0	–	0	–	6	–	5	.545
Kansas State	0	–	0	–	7	–	6	.538
Cincinnati	0	–	0	–	5	–	7	.417

† 2026 Big 12 tournament winner As of December 18, 2025 Rankings from AP poll

The 2025–26 Baylor Bears women's basketball team represents Baylor University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bears are led by fifth-year head coach Nicki Collen and play their home games at Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas. The Baylor Bears are competing as a member of the Big 12 Conference.

Previous season

The Bears finished the 2024–25 season 28–8, 15–3 in Big 12 play to finish in second place. As the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament, they defeated Iowa State in the quarterfinals and Oklahoma State in the semifinals before losing in the championship game TCU. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed as the Spokane region 1 where they defeated Grand Canyon in the first round before losing to Ole Miss in the second round.

Offseason

Departures

Baylor Departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Yaya Felder	2	G	5'8"	Senior	Hartford, CT	Graduated
Madison Bartley	3	F	6'3"	Graduate Student	Kettering, OH	Graduated
Waiata Jennings	7	G	5'9"	Junior	Rotorua, New Zealand	Transferred to Alabama
Jada Walker	11	G	5'7"	Senior	Richmond, VA	Graduated
Aaronette Vonleh	21	C	6'3"	Senior	West Linn, OR	Graduated/went undrafted in 2025 WNBA draft; signed with the Dallas Wings
Sarah Andrews	24	G	5'6"	Graduate Student	Irving, TX	Graduated

Incoming

Baylor Incoming Transfers
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Taliah Scott	0	G	5'9"	Sophomore	Orange, FL	Auburn
Kiersten Johnson	2	F	6'4"	Senior	Duncanville, TX	Oklahoma^[1]
Ella Brow	3	G	5'8"	Junior	Palm Beach, Australia	SMU
Yuting Deng	7	G	6'0"	Sophomore	Hunan, China	Auburn
Kiera Pemberton	9	F	6'1"	Junior	Langley, BC	North Dakota

Recruiting

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight
Marcayla Johnson G	Tulsa, OK	Booker T. Washington High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	N/A
Marcayla Johnson G	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (94)
Overall recruit ranking:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2025 Player Commits". ESPN. Archived from the original on October 4, 2024.

Roster

2025–26 Baylor Bears women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Taliah Scott	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	RS So	St. Johns Country Day School Auburn	Orange Park, FL
G	1	Ines Goryanova	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	RS Fr	DME Academy	Sofia, Bulgaria
F	2	Kiersten Johnson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Jr	Duncanville HS	Duncanville, TX
G	3	Ella Brow	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	RS Jr	Palm Beach Currumbin SMU	Palm Beach, Australia
G	4	Jana Van Gytenbeek	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	GS	Stanford	Greenwood Village, CO
G/F	5	Darianna Littlepage-Buggs	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Sr	Classen HS	Edmond, OK
G	7	Yuting Deng	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	FIBA China Auburn	Hunan, China
F	8	Kayla Nelms	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	So	Miami Country Day HS	Miami, FL
F	9	Kiera Pemberton	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Jr	Walnut Grove Secondary School Notre Dakota	Langley, British Columbia
F	12	Kyla Abraham	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	RS Jr	Smithfield HS	Carrollton, VA
G	21	Marcayla Johnson	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr	Booker T. Washington HS	Tulsa, OK
G/F	22	Bella Fontleroy	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Kickapoo HS	Springfield, MO

Head coach

Nicki Collen (Marquette)

Assistant coach(es)

Tony Greene (Langston)
Johnnie Harris (Arkansas Baptist)
Aaron Sternecker (Florida)
Jaelyn Richard Harris (LSU)
Tez Dumars (West Texas A&M)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Source:^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 25, 2025* 4:00 p.m.	No. 16	West Texas A&M	W 86–46		–	–	–	Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
Non-conference regular season
November 3, 2025* 11:00 a.m., ESPN	No. 16	vs. No. 7 Duke Oui-Play	W 58–52	1–0	24 – Scott	10 – Littlepage-Buggs	4 – Van Gytenbeek	Adidas Arena (5,712) Paris, France
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 16	Lindenwood	W 76–63	2–0	29 – Scott	8 – Fontleroy	6 – Van Gytenbeek	Foster Pavilion (3,251) Waco, TX
November 14, 2025* 8:30 p.m., CBSSN	No. 7	at UNLV	W 62–54	3–0	23 – Scott	12 – Littlepage-Buggs	5 – Scott	Cox Pavilion (2,464) Paradise, NV
November 16, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 7	Le Moyne	W 99–43	4–0	26 – Littlepage-Buggs	11 – Littlepage-Buggs	9 – Scott	Foster Pavilion (3,360) Waco, TX
November 20, 2025* 8:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 7	vs. No. 19 Iowa WBCA Showcase	L 52–57	4–1	32 – Scott	12 – Littlepage-Buggs	4 – Van Gytenbeek	State Farm Field House (2,532) Bay Lake, FL
November 22, 2025* 4:30 p.m., ESPN+	No. 7	vs. Davidson WBCA Showcase	W 74–72 ^OT	5–1	22 – Scott	11 – K. Johnson	5 – Van Gytenbeek	State Farm Field House Bay Lake, FL
November 26, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 15	Louisiana Tech	W 75–46	6–1	21 – Scott	12 – Littlepage-Buggs	5 – Van Gytenbeek	Foster Pavilion (3,247) Waco, TX
November 30, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 15	Grambling State	W 76–35	7–1	17 – Scott	16 – Littlepage-Buggs	7 – Van Gytenbeek	Foster Pavilion (3,121) Waco, TX
December 3, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 14	Southeastern Louisiana	W 112–47	8–1	23 – Scott	14 – Littlepage-Buggs	12 – Van Gytenbeek	Foster Pavilion (3,158) Waco, TX
December 7, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 14	UTSA	W 73–55	9–1	19 – Scott	6 – Fontleroy	3 – Tied	Foster Pavilion (3,242) Waco, TX
December 9, 2025* 11:00 a.m., ESPN+	No. 13	Alabama State	W 90–36	10–1	30 – Scott	10 – Tied	13 – Van Gytenbeek	Foster Pavilion (4,169) Waco, TX
December 14, 2025* 12:00 p.m., ABC	No. 13	vs. No. 2 Texas Sprouts Farmers Market espnW Invitational	L 54–89	10–2	9 – Tied	14 – Littlepage-Buggs	7 – Van Gytenbeek	Dickies Arena (3,116) Fort Worth, TX
December 18, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 15	Southern	W 77–60	11–2	21 – Fontleroy	12 – Littlepage-Buggs	10 – Van Gytenbeek	Foster Pavilion (3,074) Waco, TX
Big 12 regular season
December 21, 2025 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 15	Texas Tech						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
December 31, 2025 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Oklahoma State						Gallagher-Iba Arena Stillwater, OK
January 4, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN2		at Iowa State						Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA
January 8, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Colorado						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
January 11, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Kansas						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
January 14, 2026 8:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Utah						Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, UT
January 17, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+		at BYU						Marriott Center Provo, UT
January 21, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		UCF						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
January 25, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Houston						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
February 1, 2026 11:00 a.m., ESPN/ESPN2		at West Virginia						Hope Coliseum Morgantown, WV
February 4, 2026 5:30 p.m., ESPN+		at Cincinnati						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
February 7, 2026 5:00 p.m., FS1		Arizona State						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
February 12, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN		TCU						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
February 15, 2026 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at UCF						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
February 18, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Texas Tech						United Supermarkets Arena Lubbock, TX
February 21, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Arizona						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
February 23, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN2		Kansas State						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
March 1, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN		at TCU						Schollmaier Arena Fort Worth, TX
Big 12 Conference Tournament
March 4–8, 2026 TBA		vs.						T-Mobile Center Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP	16	7	7	15	14	13	15
Coaches	18	14	10	16	15	14	15														Not released

References

^ Smith, Zach (April 13, 2025). "Baylor adds Oklahoma forward Kiersten Johnson from transfer portal". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
^ "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". baylorbears.com. Baylor University Athletics. Retrieved December 5, 2023.

[1] Smith, Zach (April 13, 2025). "Baylor adds Oklahoma forward Kiersten Johnson from transfer portal". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved September 27, 2025.

[2] "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". baylorbears.com. Baylor University Athletics. Retrieved December 5, 2023.

[1]

[2]

Baylor Bears women's basketball
Venues	Heart O' Texas Fair Coliseum (1974–1988) Ferrell Center (1988–2024) Foster Pavilion (2024–present)
Culture & lore	History
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming

Recruiting

Roster

Schedule and results

Rankings

See also

References