2025–26 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball team

2025–26 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball
2025–26 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	8–4 (0–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Coquese Washington (4th season);
Associate head coach	Shannon Perry-LeBeauf
Assistant coaches	Jeanine Wasielewski; Sean LeBeauf; Danielle Edwards; James Spinelli;
Home arena	Jersey Mike's 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. 20 Nebraska	1	–	0	1.000	12	–	0	1.000
Illinois	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	1	.917
No. 19 Ohio State	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	1	.917
No. 4 UCLA	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	1	.917
No. 6 Michigan	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	1	.909
No. 14 Iowa	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	2	.833
No. 17 USC	1	–	0	1.000	9	–	3	.750
Wisconsin	1	–	0	1.000	9	–	3	.750
No. 24 Michigan State	0	–	1	.000	11	–	1	.917
Oregon	0	–	1	.000	12	–	2	.857
Indiana	0	–	1	.000	11	–	2	.846
Washington	0	–	1	.000	10	–	2	.833
Minnesota	0	–	1	.000	9	–	3	.750
Purdue	0	–	1	.000	8	–	4	.667
Rutgers	0	–	1	.000	8	–	4	.667
Penn State	0	–	1	.000	7	–	5	.583
Northwestern	0	–	1	.000	6	–	6	.500

† 2026 Big Ten tournament winner As of December 22, 2025 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2025–26 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball team represented Rutgers University during the 2025–26 college basketball season. The Scarlet Knights are led by fourth-year head coach Coquese Washington, and played their games at the Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey as members of the Big Ten Conference.

Previous season

The Scarlet Knights finished the 2024–25 season 11–19, 3–15 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for 15th place. As the No. 15 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they lost to Nebraska in the first round. They received an at-large bid to the WNIT where they received a first round bye, defeated Army in the second round and Charleston in the Super 16 before losing Buffalo in the Great 8.

Offseason

Departures

Rutgers Departures
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Destiny Adams	1	G/F	6'3"	Senior	Manchester, NJ	Graduated
Lisa Thompson	2	G	5'9"	Sophomore	Joliet, IL	Transferred to Missouri
Mya Petticord	3	G	5'9"	Junior	Detroit, MI	Transferred to Auburn^[1]
Awa Sidibe	11	G	5'11"	Graduate Student	Bamako, Mali	Graduated
JoJo Lacey	14	G	6'1"	Graduate Student	Douglassvile, PA	Graduated
Kiyomi McMiller	32	G	5'8"	Freshman	Silver Spring, MD	Transferred to Penn State
Chyna Cornwell	54	C	6'3"	Graduate Student	Conover, NC	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Rutgers Incoming Transfers
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Lauryn Swann	1	G	5'7"	Sophomore	Queens, NY	Arizona
Kaylah Ivey	2	G	5'8"	Graduate Student	Forestville, MD	Boston College
Nene Ndiaye	10	F	6'1"	Junior	Saly, Senegal	Boston College
Faith Blackstone	12	G	6'0"	Graduate Student	Harrisburg, PA	Stephen F. Austin
Imani Lester	32	F	6'4"	Junior	Raleigh, NC	Kansas State

2025 recruiting class

There was no recruiting class of 2025.

Roster

2025–26 Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Lauryn Swann	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	So	Arizona	Queens, NY
G	2	Kaylah Ivey	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	GS	Boston College	Forestville, MD
G	3	Makylah Moore	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr	Nazareth Regional High School	Brooklyn, NY
G/F	4	Antonia Bates	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Sr	Rutgers Prep	Easton, PA
G	5	Deja Young (W)	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Sr	Teaneck High School	Teaneck, NJ
F	7	Precious Gem Wheeler	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Fr	Franklin High School	Franklin, NJ
F	10	Nene Ndiaye	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Jr	Boston College	Saly, Senegal
G	12	Faith Blackstone	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	GS	Stephen F. Austin	Harrisburg, PA
F	22	Zachara Perkins	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	Summer Creek High School	Houston, TX
F	32	Imani Lester	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	RS Jr	Kansas State	Raleigh, NC
G	33	Kennedy Brandt (W)	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Jr	Glenbard West High School	Glen Ellyn, IL
F	44	Janae Walker	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Jr	Kentucky	Tyrone, GA

Head coach

Coquese Washington (Notre Dame)

Assistant coach(es)

Shannon Perry-LeBeauf (Iowa)
Jeanine Wasielewski (Northwestern)
Sean LeBeauf (Montevallo)
Danielle Edwards (Clemson)
James Spinelli (Temple)

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
Regular season
November 3, 2025* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Wagner	W 79–50	1–0	17 – Lester	9 – Perkins	8 – Ivey	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,339) Piscataway, NJ
November 6, 2025* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Quinnipiac	W 64–55	2–0	23 – Ndiaye	9 – Tied	4 – Walker	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,548) Piscataway, NJ
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Stony Brook	L 54–71	2–1	16 – Ndiaye	6 – Walker	3 – Bates	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,623) Piscataway, NJ
November 13, 2025* 11:00 a.m., B1G+	Rhode Island	W 68–63	3–1	24 – Ndiaye	10 – Walker	3 – Tied	Jersey Mike's Arena (6,829) Piscataway, NJ
November 16, 2025* 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Fairleigh Dickinson	W 59–49	4–1	17 – Perkins	10 – Bates	3 – Ndiaye	Jersey Mike's Arena (2,194) Piscataway, NJ
November 20, 2025* 7:00 p.m., SECN+/ESPN+	at Auburn	L 46–51	4–2	15 – Perkins	8 – Ndiaye	3 – Perkins	Neville Arena (2,706) Auburn, AL
November 24, 2025* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Siena	W 67–61	5–2	26 – Ndiaye	9 – Lester	6 – Ivey	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,757) Piscataway, NJ
November 28, 2025* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Northeastern	W 79–56	6–2	19 – Ndiaye	10 – Ndiaye	5 – Ivey	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,537) Piscataway, NJ
November 30, 2025* 3:00 p.m., BTN	Saint Peter's	W 57–39	7–2	12 – Tied	7 – Tied	4 – Perkins	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,765) Piscataway, NJ
December 6, 2025 6:00 p.m., FS1	No. 12 Iowa	L 36–79	7–3 (0–1)	11 – Perkins	8 – Ndiaye	2 – Tied	Jersey Mike's Arena (3,457) Piscataway, NJ
December 10, 2025* 7:30 p.m.	at Princeton Rivalry	L 63–81	7–4	20 – Ndiaye	4 – Tied	4 – Ivey	Jadwin Gymnasium (1,186) Princeton, NJ
December 20, 2025* 12:00 p.m., B1G+	Lafayette	W 54–45	8–4	22 – Blackstone	12 – Blackstone	5 – Ivey	Jersey Mike's Arena (1,761) Piscataway, NJ
December 28, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+	at No. 24 Michigan State						Breslin Center East Lansing, MI
January 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Wisconsin						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
January 4, 2025 2:00 p.m., BTN	at Ohio State						Value City Arena Columbus, OH
January 8, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Maryland						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
January 11, 2026 3:00 p.m., B1G+	at Northwestern						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
January 18, 2026 1:00 p.m., B1G+	at Penn State						Bryce Jordan Center State College, PA
January 22, 2026 6:00 p.m., BTN	Michigan						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
January 25, 2026 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Washington						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
January 28, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Oregon						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
February 1, 2026 5:00 p.m., B1G+	at USC						Galen Center Los Angeles, CA
February 4, 2026 10:00 p.m., B1G+	at UCLA						Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA
February 8, 2026 12:00 p.m., B1G+	Minnesota						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
February 14, 2026 12:00 p.m./2:00 p.m., B1G+	at Purdue						Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
February 17, 2026 7:00 p.m., BTN	at Illinois						State Farm Center Champaign, IL
February 21, 2026 4:00 p.m., BTN	Penn State						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
February 25, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Indiana						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
February 28, 2026 TBA, BTN/B1G+	at Nebraska						Pinnacle Bank Arena Lincoln, NE
Big Ten women's 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 Eastern.

Sources:^[2]

References

^ Wickliffe, Greg (April 23, 2015). "Former Ann Arbor Player of the Year transferring to SEC basketball program". MLive.com. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
^ "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Rutgers University Athletics. Retrieved 2025-09-18.

[1] Wickliffe, Greg (April 23, 2015). "Former Ann Arbor Player of the Year transferring to SEC basketball program". MLive.com. Retrieved September 18, 2025.

[2] "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Rutgers University Athletics. Retrieved 2025-09-18.

[1]

[2]

Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball
Venues	College Avenue Gymnasium (1974–1977) Jersey Mike's Arena (1977–present)
Rivalries	Princeton UConn
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
AIAW and NCAA national championships in bold; AIAW and NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

2025 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References