2025–26 Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball team

2025–26 Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball
2025–26 Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	5–7 (0–0 Big 12)
Head coach	Katrina Merriweather (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Ashley Barlow; Abby Jump; Kabrina Merriweather;
Home arena	Fifth Third Arena

2025–26 Big 12 Conference women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Arizona State	1	–	0	1.000	14	–	0	1.000
No. 21 Texas Tech	1	–	0	1.000	14	–	0	1.000
No. 10 Iowa State	1	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
No. 8т TCU	1	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
BYU	1	–	0	1.000	12	–	1	.923
Oklahoma State	1	–	0	1.000	12	–	2	.857
West Virginia	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	2	.846
Arizona	0	–	0	–	9	–	2	.818
Utah	0	–	0	–	9	–	3	.750
No. 22 Baylor	0	–	1	.000	11	–	3	.786
Kansas	0	–	1	.000	10	–	3	.769
Colorado	0	–	1	.000	9	–	4	.692
UCF	0	–	1	.000	8	–	4	.667
Kansas State	0	–	1	.000	7	–	7	.500
Houston	0	–	1	.000	6	–	6	.500
Cincinnati	0	–	1	.000	5	–	8	.385

† 2026 Big 12 tournament winner As of December 21, 2025 Rankings from AP poll

The 2025–26 Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball team represents the University of Cincinnati during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bearcats, led by third-year head coach Katrina Merriweather and play their home games at the Fifth Third Arena as members of the Big 12 Conference.

Previous season

The Bearcats finished the 2024–25 season 15–14, 7–11 in Big 12 play to finish in tenth place. As a No. 10 seed in the Big 12 women's tournament they lost in the first round to Arizona State.

Offseason

Departures

Cincinnati Departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Chloe Mann	0	G	5'8"	Freshman	Fort Worth, TX	Transferred to Grand Canyon
Tineya Hylton	2	G	5'7"	Senior	Toronto, ON	Graduated
Daylee Dunn	5	G	5'10"	Graduate Student	San Ramon, CA	Graduated
Aïcha Dia	6	G	6'0"	Junior	Montreal, QC	TBD
Abby Holtman	7	G	5'10"	Sophomore	Florence, KY	Transferred to Mercer
Brianna Byars	10	F	5'11"	Sophomore	Paris, KY	Transferred to Georgetown
Jillian Hayes	20	F	6'1"	Graduate Student	Cincinnati, OH	Graduated
A'riel Jackson	34	G	5'9"	Junior	Brooklyn, NY	Transferred to Auburn

Incoming

Cincinnati Incoming Transfers
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Mya Perry	1	G	5'11"	Senior	Reynoldsburg, OH	Florida Atlantic
Mary Carden	42	C	6'6"	Sophomore	Idabel, OK	Oral Roberts

Recruiting

^[1]

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Paige Whitted CG	Memphis, TN	Briarcrest Christian School	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	N/A	Oct 27, 2023
Paige Whitted CG	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Joya Crawford PG	Dyersburg, TN	Dyersburg	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	N/A	Dec 12, 2023
Joya Crawford PG	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Darianna Alexander G	Cincinnati, OH	Purcell Marian	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	N/A	Apr 17, 2024
Darianna Alexander G	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (97)
Kali Barrett SF	Bradenton, FL	Cardinal Mooney HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A	Jul 15, 2024
Kali Barrett SF	Recruit ratings: 247Sports:
Caliyah DeVillasee PG	Owings Mills, MD	Our Lady of Good Counsel	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	N/A	Sep 19, 2024
Caliyah DeVillasee PG	Recruit ratings: 247Sports: ESPN: (93)
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 November 25, 2024.

Roster

2025–26 Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Mya Perry	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	Sr	Reynoldsburg Florida Atlantic	Reynoldsburg, OH
G	2	Paige Whitted	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr	Briarcrest Christian Academy	Memphis, TN
G	3	Reagan Jackson	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Jr	Kennedale	Kennedale, TX
G	4	Caliyah DeVillasee	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Fr	Our Lady of Good Counsel	Owings Mills, MD
G	8	Joya Crawford	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Fr	Dyersburg	Dyersburg, TN
G	9	Dee Alexander	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Fr	Purcell Marian	Cincinnati, OH
F	10	Kylie Torrence	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Fr	Winston Salem Christian	High Point, NC
F	14	Ramiyah Byrd	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	RS So	Spire Institute and Academy	Colorado Springs, CO
F	21	Kali Barrett	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Fr	Cardinal Mooney	Bradenton, FL
F	25	Alliance Ndiba	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	RS Sr	Arizona Western College	Lubumbashi, Congo
C	32	Destiny Thomas	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Sr	Jonesboro Memphis	Jonesboro, AR
C	33	Delaney Snyder	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Jr	TPLS Christian Academy	Richmond, VA
C	42	Mary Carden	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	So	Idabel Oral Roberts	Idabel, OK

Head coach

Katrina Merriweather (Cincinnati)

Assistant coach(es)

Ashley Barlow (Notre Dame)
Abby Jump (Wright State)
Kabrina Merriweather (Florida A&M)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

^[2]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 27, 2025* 6:30 p.m.	Taylor	W 104–67		21 – Perry	13 – Torrence	7 – DeVillasee	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
Non-conference regular season
November 4, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	Lehigh	L 85–88	0–1	31 – Perry	8 – Thomas	6 – Crawford	Fifth Third Arena (814) Cincinnati, OH
November 7, 2025* 6:00 p.m., B1G+	at Penn State	L 77–82	0–2	18 – Torrence	6 – Torrence	4 – DeVillasee	Rec Hall (1,609) State College, PA
November 11, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Saint Joseph's	L 65–70	0–3	19 – Perry	8 – Torrence	5 – DeVillasee	Hagan Arena (895) Philadelphia, PA
November 16, 2025* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+	Georgetown (KY)	W 100–61	1–3	23 – Perry	9 – Tied	15 – DeVillasee	Fifth Third Arena (902) Cincinnati, OH
November 20, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	Ball State	L 63–83	1–4	21 – DeVillasee	6 – Ndiba	2 – Tied	Fifth Third Arena (1,532) Cincinnati, OH
November 23, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Canisius	W 96–57	2–4	–	–	–	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
November 28, 2025* 3:00 p.m.	vs. Alabama A&M Florida Gulf Classic Challenge	W 72–49	3–4	–	–	–	Hertz Arena Naples, FL
November 29, 2025* 3:00 p.m.	vs. New Mexico Florida Gulf Classic Challenge	W 63–60	4–4	–	–	–	Hertz Arena Naples, FL
December 3, 2025* 11:30 a.m., ESPN+	Miami (OH)	L 71–75	4–5	–	–	–	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
December 7, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Xavier Crosstown Shootout	L 70–77	4–6	–	–	–	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
December 13, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	UNLV	W 65–48	5–6	–	–	–	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
December 16, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	Howard	L 64–66	5–7	–	–	–	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
Big 12 regular season
December 21, 2025 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Oklahoma State						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
December 31, 2025 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Kansas State						Bramlage Coliseum Manhattan, KS
January 3, 2025 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Colorado						CU Events Center Boulder, CO
January 7, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	Iowa State						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
January 10, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Texas Tech						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
January 14, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	at UCF						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
January 18, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	West Virginia						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
January 21, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Iowa State						Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA
January 24, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Arizona State						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
February 1, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Houston						Fertitta Center Houston, TX
February 4, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	Baylor						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
February 7, 2026 TBA, ESPN+	at Kansas						Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, KS
February 10, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	Arizona						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
February 14, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Utah						Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, UT
February 17, 2026 9:00 p.m., ESPN+	at BYU						Marriott Center Provo, UT
February 21, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	UCF						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
February 25, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	TCU						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
March 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at West Virginia						Hope Coliseum Morgantown, WV
Big 12 Conference Tournament
March 4–9, 2026 TBA	vs.						T-Mobile Center Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

References

^ "Women's Basketball Inks Five on National Signing Day". GoBearcats.com. University of Cincinnati Athletics. November 13, 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
^ "University of Cincinnati Official Athletic Site". Gobearcats.com. Retrieved 2024-11-25.

[1] "Women's Basketball Inks Five on National Signing Day". GoBearcats.com. University of Cincinnati Athletics. November 13, 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024.

[2] "University of Cincinnati Official Athletic Site". Gobearcats.com. Retrieved 2024-11-25.

[1]

[2]

Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball
Venues	Armory Fieldhouse (1971–1976) Riverfront Coliseum (1976–1987) Cincinnati Gardens (1987–1989) Fifth Third Arena (1989–2017; 2018–present) St. Ursula Academy Gymnasium & Convocation Center (2017–18)
Rivalries	Louisville Memphis Xavier
Culture & lore	Bearcat "Cheer Cincinnati" UC Pep Band
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 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

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming

Recruiting

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References