2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball
2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
AP	No. 16
Record	12–3 (2–0 ACC)
Head coach	Jeff Walz (19th season);
Associate head coach	Jonneshia Pineda (7th season)
Assistant coaches	Shay Robinson (4th season); Amanda Butler (2nd season); Brittany Morris (1st season);
Home arena	KFC Yum! Center

2025–26 ACC women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 16 Louisville	2	–	0	1.000	11	–	3	.786
NC State	2	–	0	1.000	8	–	4	.667
Syracuse	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	1	.917
Stanford	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	2	.833
No. 20 Notre Dame	1	–	0	1.000	8	–	2	.800
Virginia	1	–	0	1.000	8	–	3	.727
Duke	1	–	0	1.000	5	–	6	.455
Virginia Tech	1	–	1	.500	10	–	3	.769
Wake Forest	1	–	1	.500	10	–	3	.769
Clemson	1	–	1	.500	8	–	4	.667
Miami (FL)	1	–	1	.500	7	–	4	.636
No. 18 North Carolina	0	–	1	.000	10	–	3	.769
California	0	–	1	.000	8	–	4	.667
Pittsburgh	0	–	1	.000	7	–	6	.538
SMU	0	–	1	.000	6	–	6	.500
Boston College	0	–	1	.000	4	–	10	.286
Florida State	0	–	2	.000	4	–	9	.308
Georgia Tech	0	–	2	.000	4	–	9	.308

† 2026 ACC tournament winner As of December 19, 2025 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represents the University of Louisville during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinals are led by nineteenth-year head coach Jeff Walz, and play their home games at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. This season is their twelfth year competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Previous season

The Cardinals finished the season 22–11 overall and 13–5 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. As the sixth seed in the ACC tournament, earned a bye into the second round where they defeated Clemson 70–68 in overtime. They lost to eleventh ranked and third seed Duke 61–48 in the Quarterfinals. They received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament and were the seven-seed in the Birmingham 3 region. They defeated ten seed Nebraska in the First Round before losing to second seed and sixth ranked TCU 85–70 in the Second Round to end their season.

Off-season

Departures

Departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Izela Arenas	0	G	5'9"	Freshman	Porter Ranch, California	Transferred to Kansas State^[1]
Nyla Harris	2	F	6'2"	Junior	Windermere, Florida	Transferred to North Carolina^[2]
Eseosa Imafidon	10	C	6'5"	Freshman	Benin City, Nigeria	Transferred to Providence^[3]
Ja'Leah Williams	12	G	5'9"	Senior	Pompano Beach, Florida	Graduated
Merissah Russell	13	G	6'0"	Graduate Student	Ottawa, Ontario	Graduated
Jayda Curry	30	G	5'6"	Senior	Corona, California	Graduated
Olivia Cochran	44	F	6'3"	Graduate Student	Columbus, Georgia	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Laura Ziegler	0	F	6'2"	Senior	Herlev, Denmark	Saint Joseph's^[4]
Reyna Scott	1	G	5'10"	Senior	New York, New York	Oklahoma^[5]
Skylar Jones	23	G/F	6'0"	Junior	Chicago, Illinois	Arizona^[6]

Recruiting class

Source:^[7]

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Peyton Bradley G	Brandenburg, Kentucky	Meade County High School	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	N/A	Mar 9, 2025
Peyton Bradley G	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (NR)
Grace Mbugua F	Danville, Kentucky	Danville Christian	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	N/A	Oct 15, 2024
Grace Mbugua F	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (92)
Yevheniia Putra F	Kyiv, Ukraine	MBK Ružomberok	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	N/A	May 12, 2025
Yevheniia Putra F	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (NR)
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:

Roster

2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	4	Laura Ziegler	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr	Falkonergaardens Gymnasium Saint Joseph's	Herlev, Denmark
G	1	Reyna Scott	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Sr	Nazareth Regional Oklahoma	New York, NY
G	2	Imani Berry	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	Clarksville	Clarksville, TN
F	4	Mackenly Randolph	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Sierra Canyon	Los Angeles, CA
G	5	Rebekah Graves	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	RS Fr	Keller	Keller, TX
F	9	Anaya Hardy	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	Renaissance	Detroit, MI
F	11	Elif Istanbulluoglu	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Jr	Fenerbahçe S.K.	Istanbul, Turkey
F	12	Yevheniia Putra	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Fr	MBK Ružomberok	Kyiv, Ukraine
F	13	Isla Juffermans	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	So	Centre of Excellence Australia	Coffs Harbour, Australia
G	20	Peyton Bradley	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr	Meade County	Brandenburg, KY
G	21	Reagan Bender	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	Sacred Heart	Louisville, KY
G	22	Tajianna Roberts	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	IMG Academy	San Diego, CA
G/F	23	Skylar Jones	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Whitney Young Arizona	Chicago, IL
F	24	Grace Mbugua	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Fr	Danville Christian	Danville, KY

Head coach

Jeff Walz (Northern Kentucky)

Assistant coach(es)

Jonneshia Pineda (Georgia Southwestern State)
Shay Robinson (Central Florida)
Amanda Butler (Florida)
Brittany Morris (Seton Hall)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: September 26, 2025

Schedule and results

Source^[8]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 4, 2025* 5:30 p.m., ESPN	No. 20	vs. No. 1 UConn Armed Forces Classic	L 66–79	0–1	16 – Ziegler	18 – Ziegler	3 – Scott	Alumni Hall (3,640) Annapolis, MD
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 20	Northern Kentucky	W 89–61	1–1	23 – Roberts	11 – Ziegler	5 – Ziegler	KFC Yum! Center (7,182) Louisville, KY
November 12, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	Colorado	W 74–68	2–1	21 – Jones	6 – Tied	3 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,730) Louisville, KY
November 16, 2025 3:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 22	at Clemson	W 65–54	3–1 (1–0)	17 – Ziegler	10 – Ziegler	4 – Roberts	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,004) Clemson, SC
November 19, 2025* 8:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 21	Morehead State	W 96–49	4–1	13 – Tied	13 – Hardy	4 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,620) Louisville, KY
November 22, 2025* 2:00 p.m., The CW	No. 21	No. 20 Kentucky Rivalry	L 62–72	4–2	22 – Roberts	11 – Ziegler	4 – Berry	KFC Yum! Center (10,442) Louisville, KY
November 28, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 23	Eastern Illinois	W 91–38	5–2	13 – Roberts	12 – Hardy	5 – Ziegler	KFC Yum! Center (6,890) Louisville, KY
November 29, 2025* 3:30 p.m., ESPN+	No. 23	vs. East Tennessee State	W 88–50	6–2	17 – Berry	6 – Tied	7 – Ziegler	Knights Hall (553) Louisville, KY
November 30, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 23	Bellarmine	W 100–37	7–2	14 – Berry	10 – Hardy	4 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,942) Louisville, KY
December 4, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 22	No. 3 South Carolina ACC–SEC Challenge	L 77–79	7–3	20 – Roberts	9 – Istanbulluoglu	4 – Scott	KFC Yum! Center (10,012) Louisville, KY
December 7, 2025* 12:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	New Hampshire	W 94–43	8–3	15 – Tied	9 – Hardy	5 – Roberts	KFC Yum! Center (6,653) Louisville, KY
December 10, 2025* 9:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	Ball State	W 93–62	9–3	20 – Jones	10 – Hardy	3 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,477) Louisville, KY
December 14, 2025 4:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 22	at No. 12 North Carolina	W 76–66 ^OT	10–3 (2–0)	17 – Ziegler	8 – Ziegler	4 – Tied	Carmichael Arena (2,622) Chapel Hill, NC
December 17, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 16	Eastern Kentucky	W 76–51	11–3	12 – Roberts	10 – Mbugua	7 – Berry	KFC Yum! Center (6,682) Louisville, KY
December 20, 2025* 10:30 a.m., FOX	No. 16	vs. No. 17 Tennessee Women's Champions Classic	W 89–65	12–3	18 – Roberts	14 – Istanbulluoglu	6 – Ziegler	Barclays Center (10,107) Brooklyn, NY
January 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		SMU						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 4, 2026 4:00 p.m., ACCN		Virginia Tech						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 8, 2026 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Miami (FL)						Watsco Center Coral Gables, FL
January 11, 2026 2:00 p.m., The CW		Pittsburgh						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 15, 2026 6:00 p.m., ACCN		at Notre Dame						Purcell Pavilion Notre Dame, IN
January 18, 2026 1:00 p.m., ESPN2		at NC State						Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 25, 2026 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		Boston College						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
January 29, 2026 8:00 p.m., ESPN		at Stanford						Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA
February 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., The CW		at California						Haas Pavilion Berkeley, CA
February 5, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN		Duke						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
February 8, 2026 12:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Syracuse						JMA Wireless Dome Syracuse, NY
February 12, 2026 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Wake Forest						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
February 15, 2026 6:00 p.m., ACCN		Florida State						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
February 22, 2026 12:00 p.m., The CW		Virginia						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
February 26, 2026 6:00 p.m., ACCN		at Georgia Tech						McCamish Pavilion Atlanta, GA
March 1, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN2		Notre Dame						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
ACC Women's Tournament
*		vs.						Gas South Arena Duluth, GA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

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	20	22	21	23	22	22	16
Coaches	19	21	19	22	21	20	17

References

^ "K-State adds Louisville transfer Izela Arenas". KAKE. Kansas State University Athletics. April 19, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Former Louisville Forward Nyla Harris Announces Transfer Destination". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ "Transfer Eseosa Imafidon Commits To Providence College". friars.com. Providence University Athletics. May 16, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ Demling, Jody (April 18, 2025). "Louisville lands St. Joseph's transfer Laura Ziegler". 247 Sports. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ Demling, Jody (April 10, 2025). "Oklahoma Transfer Guard Reyna Scott Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Arizona Transfer Wing Skylar Jones Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ "Louisville Cardinals". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ "2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball schedule". gocards.com. Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[1] "K-State adds Louisville transfer Izela Arenas". KAKE. Kansas State University Athletics. April 19, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[2] McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Former Louisville Forward Nyla Harris Announces Transfer Destination". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[3] "Transfer Eseosa Imafidon Commits To Providence College". friars.com. Providence University Athletics. May 16, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[4] Demling, Jody (April 18, 2025). "Louisville lands St. Joseph's transfer Laura Ziegler". 247 Sports. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[5] Demling, Jody (April 10, 2025). "Oklahoma Transfer Guard Reyna Scott Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[6] McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Arizona Transfer Wing Skylar Jones Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[7] "Louisville Cardinals". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[8] "2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball schedule". gocards.com. Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

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Louisville Cardinals women's basketball
Venues	Freedom Hall (1975–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Kentucky
Culture & lore	Cardinal Bird
People	Head coaches
Seasons	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 Final Four appearance in italics