2025–26 Villanova Wildcats women's basketball team

2025–26 Villanova Wildcats women's basketball
2025–26 Villanova Wildcats women's basketball
Big 5 Classic champions
Conference	Big East Conference
Record	9–2 (2–0 Big East)
Head coach	Denise Dillon (6th season);
Associate head coach	Joe Mullaney
Assistant coaches	Michelle Sword; Tiara Malcom; Jess Genco;
Home arena	Finneran Pavilion

2025–26 Big East women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 UConn	3	–	0	1.000	11	–	0	1.000
Villanova	2	–	0	1.000	9	–	2	.818
Creighton	1	–	0	1.000	5	–	5	.500
Marquette	2	–	1	.667	7	–	4	.636
St. John's	1	–	1	.500	11	–	2	.846
Seton Hall	1	–	1	.500	7	–	4	.636
Xavier	1	–	2	.333	8	–	4	.667
Butler	1	–	2	.333	7	–	6	.538
Georgetown	0	–	1	.000	7	–	3	.700
Providence	0	–	2	.000	7	–	5	.583
DePaul	0	–	2	.000	3	–	10	.231

† 2026 Big East tournament winner As of December 19, 2025 Rankings from AP poll

The 2025–26 Villanova Wildcats women's basketball team represents Villanova University in the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats, led by sixth-year head coach Denise Dillon, play their home games at the Finneran Pavilion in Villanova, Pennsylvania and are members of the Big East Conference.

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Kaitlyn Orihel	4	G	5'10"	Senior	Newtown, PA	Graduated
Bronagh Power-Cassidy	7	G	5'10"	Graduate Student	Dublin, Ireland	Graduated
Jaliyah Green	8	G	5'10"	Senior	St. Louis, MO	Graduated
Lara Edmanson	14	G/F	6'0"	Graduate Student	Melbourne, Australia	Graduated
Maddie Burke	23	G	6'0"	Graduate Student	Doylestown, PA	Graduated
Maddie Webber	34	G	5'11"	Junior	Sparta, NJ	Transferred to Illinois

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Kylee Watson	4	F	6'4"	Graduate Student	Linwood, NJ	Notre Dame
Kelsey Joens	23	G	5'10"	Junior	Iowa City, Iowa	Iowa State

Recruiting

Recruiting class of 2025

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight
Elise Bender	Whitehouse, Ohio	Anthony Wayne	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	N/A
Elise Bender	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Brooke Bender	Whitehouse, Ohio	Anthony Wayne	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	N/A
Brooke Bender	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Kennedy Henry G	Blairstown, NJ	Blair Academy	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	N/A
Kennedy Henry G	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (92)
MD Ntambue	Montreal, Quebec	Crestwood Prep	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	N/A
MD Ntambue	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
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 14, 2025.

Roster

2025–26 Villanova Wildcats women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	3	MD Ntambue	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr	Crestwood	Montreal, Quebec
F	4	Kylee Watson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	GS	Mainland Notre Dame	Linwood, NJ
G	5	Ryanne Allen	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Sr	Archbishop Wood Vanderbilt	Warminster, PA
G	11	Jasmine Bascoe	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	So	King's Christian	Milton, ON
G	12	Elise Bender	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Fr	Anthony Wayne	Whitehouse, OH
F	13	Brynn McCurry	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Jr	Sparta	Sparta, NJ
G	14	Brooke Bender	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Fr	Anthony Wayne	Whitehouse, OH
G	22	Kennedy Henry	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr	Westtown School	Hockessin, DE
G	23	Kelsey Joens	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Jr	West Liberty Iowa State	Iowa City, Iowa
F	25	Denae Carter	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	St. Basil Academy Mississippi State	Philadelphia, PA
G	24	Dani Ceseretti	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Northfield Mount Hermon	Barrington, RI
F	43	Annie Welde	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Cardinal O'Hara	Bridgeville, PA
G	44	Maggie Grant	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Archbishop John Carroll	Downingtown, PA
F	45	Rachel Wirts	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	Center Grove	Greenwood, IN

Head coach

Denise Dillon (Villanova)

Assistant coach(es)

Joe Mullaney (Providence)
Michelle Sword (Saint Joseph's)
Tiara Malcom (Delaware)
Jess Genco (Northeastern)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: November 14, 2025

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., ESPN+	Lafayette	W 70–38	1–0	13 – Henry	7 – Carter	5 – McCurry	Finneran Pavilion (1,061) Villanova, PA
November 5, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Fairfield	L 63–75	1–1	30 – Bascoe	8 – Bascoe	4 – Kennedy	Finneran Pavilion (1,211) Villanova, PA
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., YouTube	vs. VCU	W 74–40	2–1	17 – Bascoe	6 – 2 Tied	7 – Kennedy	Mattamy Athletic Centre Toronto, ON
November 10, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Princeton	L 68–73	2–2	16 – Bascoe	6 – 2 Tied	5 – McCurry	Finneran Pavilion (1,051) Villanova, PA
November 16, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at James Madison	W 84–73	3–2	18 – McCurry	5 – Tied	7 – McCurry	Atlantic Union Bank Center (2,255) Harrisonburg, VA
November 22, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Temple Big 5 Classic Pod 2	W 88–58	4–2	19 – Allen	8 – McCurry	7 – Ceseretti	Finneran Pavilion (1,551) Villanova, PA
November 25, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	at La Salle Big 5 Classic Pod 2	W 66–54	5–2	18 – McCurry	7 – McCurry	5 – McCurry	John Glaser Arena (287) Philadelphia, PA
December 1, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	at No. 25 West Virginia	W 81–59	6–2	24 – Bascoe	9 – McCurry	6 – Bascoe	Hope Coliseum (2,661) Morgantown, WV
December 4, 2025 2:00 p.m., Peacock	at Georgetown	W 76–69	7–2 (1–0)	26 – Bascoe	7 – McCurry	4 – Tied	McDonough Arena (383) Washington, D.C.
December 7, 2025* 4:30 p.m.	Saint Joseph's Big 5 Classic Championship	W 76–70	8–2	21 – McCurry	8 – Carter	5 – Bascoe	Finneran Pavilion (1,242) Villanova, PA
December 19, 2025 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Seton Hall	W 72–55	9–2 (2–0)	20 – Bascoe	7 – Bascoe	8 – McCurry	Finneran Pavilion (1,113) Villanova, PA
December 22, 2025 12:00 p.m., ESPN+	St. John's						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
December 29, 2025 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	DePaul						Wintrust Arena Chicago, IL
January 1, 2026 12:00 p.m., ESPN+	Creighton						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
January 4, 2026 4:00 p.m., Peacock	at Marquette						Al McGuire Center Milwaukee, WI
January 8, 2026 11:30 a.m., ESPN+	Xavier						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
January 11, 2026 12:00 p.m., TruTV	at Providence						Alumni Hall Providence, RI
January 15, 2026 7:00 p.m., FS1	at UConn						Harry A. Gampel Pavilion Storrs, CT
January 18, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Butler						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
January 24, 2026 2:00 p.m., FS1	at St. John's						Carnesecca Arena Queens, NY
January 27, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Providence						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
January 31, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	DePaul						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
February 4, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Butler						Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
February 7, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Georgetown						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
February 11, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Xavier						Cintas Center Cincinnati, OH
February 15, 2026 5:00 p.m., TruTV	at Creighton						D. J. Sokol Arena Omaha, NE
February 18, 2026 7:00 p.m., Peacock	UConn						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
February 22, 2026 3:30 p.m., Peacock	Marquette						Finneran Pavilion Villanova, PA
February 26, 2026 7:00 p.m., Peacock	at Seton Hall						Walsh Gymnasium South Orange, NJ
Big East tournament
March 6–9, 2026 TBA	vs.						Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Source:^[1]

Rankings

Ranking movements
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP
Coaches

References

^ "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Villanova.com. Retrieved November 14, 2025.

[1] "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Villanova.com. Retrieved November 14, 2025.

[1]

Villanova Wildcats women's basketball
Venues	Jake Nevin Field House (1969–1986, 2017–18) Finneran Pavilion (1986–2017, 2018–present)
Rivalries	Saint Joseph's
Culture & lore	Will D. Cat City 6 Philadelphia Big 5 Big 5 Classic "V for Villanova"
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1969–70 1970–71 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