The 2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represented 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, played 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 Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Northwestern's road games at UCLA on January 12 and USC on January 15 were postponed. Northwestern forfeited the games in February 2025. UCLA and USC each were credited with a win, and the Wildcats were assessed two losses.
Offseason Departures Northwestern departures 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 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 was no recruiting class of 2025.
2026 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=10 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=10 style=""| Regular season
Source:
See also 2025–26 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team
References