2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	6–3 (0–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe McKeown (18th season);
Associate head coach	Tangela Smith
Assistant coaches	Maggie Lyon; Brittany Johnson;
Home arena	Welsh–Ryan Arena

2025–26 Big Ten women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 Maryland	1	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
No. 23 Nebraska	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	0	1.000
Illinois	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	1	.917
No. 11 Iowa	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	1	.909
No. 21 Ohio State	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	1	.909
No. 4 UCLA	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	1	.909
No. 6 Michigan	1	–	0	1.000	9	–	1	.900
No. 19 USC	1	–	0	1.000	8	–	3	.727
Wisconsin	1	–	0	1.000	8	–	3	.727
Oregon	0	–	1	.000	12	–	1	.923
No. 24 Michigan State	0	–	1	.000	9	–	1	.900
Indiana	0	–	1	.000	10	–	2	.833
No. 22 Washington	0	–	1	.000	9	–	2	.818
Minnesota	0	–	1	.000	8	–	3	.727
Purdue	0	–	1	.000	7	–	4	.636
Rutgers	0	–	1	.000	7	–	4	.636
Penn State	0	–	1	.000	6	–	4	.600
Northwestern	0	–	1	.000	6	–	5	.545

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

The 2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represents Northwestern University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats, led by head coach Joe McKeown in his 18th and final season, play their home games at the Welsh–Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois as members of the Big Ten Conference.

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2024–25 season 9–18, 2–16 in Big Ten play to finish in 17th place. They failed to qualify for the Big Ten tournament.

Due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Northwestern's road games at UCLA on January 12 and USC on January 15 were postponed.^[1] Northwestern forfeited the games in February 2025. UCLA and USC each were credited with a win, and the Wildcats were assessed two losses.^[1]

Offseason

Departures

Northwestern departures
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Kyla Jones	2	G	5'9"	Graduate Student	Chicago, IL	Graduated
Caileigh Walsh	10	F	6'3"	Senior	Sparta, NJ	Graduated
Mercy Ademusayo	13	F	6'4"	Senior	Ode-Irele, Nigeria	Graduated
Melannie Daley	21	G	5'11"	Senior	Hastings-on-Hudson, NY	Transferred to Virginia Tech
Taylor Williams	33	F	6'2"	Graduate Student	New Baltimore, MI	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Northwestern incoming transfers
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Tate Walters	4	G	5'9"	Graduate Student	Buford, GA	Furman
DaiJa Turner	24	F	6'3"	Senior	Fayetteville, NC	TCU

Recruiting

2025 recruiting class

There are no recruiting class of 2025.

2026 recruiting class

College recruiting information (2026)
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Xyanna Walton G	Chicago, IL	Butler College Prep	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	N/A
Xyanna Walton G	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (92)
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: "2026 Player Commits". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 24, 2025.

Roster

2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	0	Rachel Mutombo	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Jr	Good Counsel	Silver Spring, MD
G	1	Xamiya Walton	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	So	Butler College Prep	Chicago, IL
G	3	Claire Keswick (W)	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Tabor Academy	Wrentham, MA
G	4	Tate Walters	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	GS	Furman	Buford, GA
G	7	Caroline Lau	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Sr	St. Luke's School	Westport, CT
G/F	8	Kat Righeimer (W)	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	So	Sage Hill School	Costa Mesa, CA
F	9	Crystal Fuqu Wang	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Jr	Sierra Canyon	Beijing, China
F	10	Sandra Moreno	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Fr	Institut Frederic Mompou	Barcelona, Spain
G	11	Angelina Hodgens	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Fr	St. Joseph By-The-Sea	Staten Island, NY
G	12	Casey Harter	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	Jr	Souderton	Harleysville, PA
G	14	Sammy White (W)	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	GS	Dulaney	Timonium, MD
F	22	Grace Sullivan	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Sr	Bucknell	Antioch, IL
F	23	Tayla Thomas	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	IMG Academy	East Orange, NJ
F	24	DaiJa Turner	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	RS Sr	TCU	Fayetteville, NC
F	25	Lauren Trumpy	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Sr	Trinity	Camp Hill, PA
G	33	Amparo López	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr	Maristas Colegio Sagrado Corazón Valencia	Valencia, Spain

Head coach

Joe McKeown (Kent State)

Assistant coach(es)

Tangela Smith (Iowa)
Maggie Lyon (Northwestern)
Brittany Johnson (Ohio State)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 1, 2025* 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Lewis	W 82–49	–	23 – Grace	10 – Tayla	9 – Caroline	Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Regular season
November 5, 2025* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	IU Indy	W 67–64	1–0	18 – Sullivan	18 – Sullivan	7 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (747) Evanston, IL
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., B1G+	SIU Edwardsville	W 64–51	2–0	25 – Sullivan	11 – Thomas	8 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,189) Evanston, IL
November 14, 2025* 6:30 p.m., B1G+	Maryland Eastern Shore	W 69–54	3–0	18 – Harter	11 – Thomas	8 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,021) Evanston, IL
November 17, 2025* 11:00 a.m., ESPN+	at DePaul	W 79–72	4–0	26 – Sullivan	18 – Thomas	9 – Lau	Wintrust Arena (9,526) Chicago, IL
November 21, 2025* 6:30 p.m., B1G+	Cleveland State	W 75–68	5–0	20 – Sullivan	11 – Sullivan	12 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (938) Evanston, IL
November 28, 2025* 11:00 a.m., Ion	vs. Abilene Christian Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division	W 62–59	6–0	22 – Sullivan	12 – Thomas	9 – Lau	Suncoast Credit Union Arena Fort Myers, FL
November 29, 2025* 1:30 p.m., Ion	vs. Missouri Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division	L 70–85	6–1	31 – Sullivan	13 – Sullivan	8 – Tied	Suncoast Credit Union Arena (593) Fort Myers, FL
December 3, 2025* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Kansas	L 62–74	6–2	24 – Sullivan	11 – Thomas	10 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (918) Evanston, IL
December 7, 2025 1:00 p.m., BTN	No. 23 Ohio State	L 70–79	6–3 (0–1)	37 – Sullivan	8 – Sullivan	14 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,515) Evanston, IL
December 14, 2025* 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Utah						Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, UT
December 18, 2025* 11:00 a.m., B1G+	Loyola Chicago						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
December 21, 2025* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+	at George Washington						Charles E. Smith Center Washington, D.C.
December 29, 2025 7:00 p.m., B1G+	at Washington						Alaska Airlines Arena Seattle, WA
January 1, 2026 4:00 p.m., B1G+	at Oregon						Matthew Knight Arena Eugene, OR
January 5, 2026 7:30 p.m., BTN	Iowa						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
January 8, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	at Minnesota						Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 11, 2026 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Rutgers						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
January 15, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Wisconsin						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
January 18, 2026 2:00 p.m., B1G+	at Illinois						State Farm Center Champaign, IL
January 25, 2026 3:00 p.m., BTN	UCLA						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
January 28, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	at Nebraska						Pinnacle Bank Arena Lincoln, NE
February 1, 2026 1:00 p.m., B1G+	at Indiana						Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
February 5, 2026 8:00 p.m., BTN	USC						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
February 12, 2026 8:00 p.m., Peacock	Michigan						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
February 15, 2026 3:00 p.m., BTN	at Penn State						Bryce Jordan Center State College, PA
February 18, 2026 5:30 p.m., B1G+	at Michigan State						Breslin Center East Lansing, MI
February 22, 2026 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Illinois						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
February 25, 2026 5:30 p.m., B1G+	at Maryland						Xfinity Center College Park, MD
March 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., BTN/B1G+	Purdue						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Big Ten tournament
March 4–8, 2026 TBA	vs.						Gainbridge Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Source:^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "Northwestern women take forfeits for not playing January games at UCLA, USC over wildfire concerns". AP News. 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
^ "2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Nusports.com. Retrieved August 24, 2025.

[NWLA-1] "Northwestern women take forfeits for not playing January games at UCLA, USC over wildfire concerns". AP News. 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-06-15.

[2] "2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Nusports.com. Retrieved August 24, 2025.

[1]

[2]

Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
Venues	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1975–present) Beardsley Gym (2017–18)
Culture & lore	History "Go U Northwestern" Willie the Wildcat
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

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

Recruiting

2025 recruiting class

2026 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References