The 2025–26 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Irish were led by sixth-year head coach Niele Ivey and played their home games at Purcell Pavilion in Notre Dame, Indiana as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Fighting Irish began the season ranked fifteenth in the polls and fell to eighteenth after winning their first two games. As the eighteenth-ranked team, they defeated Akron before losing by thirty-nine points to fourteenth-ranked Michigan in the Citi Shamrock Classic. They fell to twenty-fourth in the rankings but rebounded with a two-point defeat of eleventh-ranked USC. They climbed back to eighteenth in the rankings before losing to thirteenth-ranked Ole Miss in the ACC–SEC Challenge. They opened ACC play with a defeat of Florida State. The win sparked a five-game winning streak, which included another ACC win over Pittsburgh. Still as the eighteenth-ranked team, the Irish opened 2026 with two losses, one against Georgia Tech by five points in overtime and one against Duke. These losses saw the team fall out of the rankings. Defeats of Boston College and twenty-second-ranked North Carolina saw them climb back to twenty-third in the rankings. The team quickly fell back out of the rankings after losing to ninth-ranked Louisville. They suffered a thirty-seven-point loss to rivals and top-ranked UConn. These two games were part of a 1–4 stretch for the team. Their only victory was over Miami. They Fighting Irish did not let the streak affect them in the long run, as they finished the season on a 7–1 streak. They only loss over the stretch was an eleven-point defeat at Virginia. Notre Dame finished the regular season with a three-points victory over tenth-ranked Louisville.

The Fighting Irish finished the regular season 20–9 overall and 12–6 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place. As the fifth seed in the ACC tournament, earned a bye into the Second Round, where they defeated twelfth seed Miami, 69–54. They defeated fourth seed NC State in the quarterfinals before falling to thirteenth-ranked and top seed Duke in the semifinals, 63–65. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the six-seed in the Fort Worth 1 regional. They were ranked twenty-second in the AP poll at the start of the tournament. They defeated eleven-seed Fairfield and three-seed and twelfth-ranked Ohio State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they faced two-seed and sixth-ranked Vanderbilt. Notre Dame completed the upset 67–64 to advance to the Elite Eight. Their cinderella run ended there, with a defeat against rival, top-seed, and top-ranked UConn, for the second time during the season. The Fighting Irish finished the season with a 25–1 record, and ranked ninth in the AP poll and fourteenth in the Coaches polls.

Previous season

The Fighting Irish finished the regular season 25–4 overall and 16–2 in ACC play to finish in a tie for first place. As the second seed in the ACC tournament, earned a bye into the quarterfinals, where they defeated seventh seed California, 73–64. They were defeated in the semifinals by third seed and eleventh-ranked Duke. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the three-seed in the Birmingham 3 region. They defeated fourteen-seed Stephen F. Austin and six-seed Michigan at home to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they faced two seed and sixth-ranked TCU in a rematch of their Cayman Islands Classic game. They lost again to TCU, this time 71–62, to end their season. The Fighting Irish finished the season with a 28–6 record, and ranked tenth in the AP poll and ninth in the Coaches polls.

Offseason

Departures Notre Dame departures 2 G 6'1" Melbourne, Florida Transferred to Florida State 5 G 5'6" Phillipsburg, New Jersey Transferred to TCU 11 G 6'1" Eastchester, New York Graduated; drafted 3rd overallin the 2025 WNBA draft 13 F 6'5" Kyiv, Ukraine Transferred to LSU 20 F 6'0" Washington, D.C. Graduated; drafted 28th overallin the 2025 WNBA draft 21 F 6'3" Kettering, Ohio Graduated; drafted 16th overallin the 2025 WNBA draft 22 F 6'4" Linwood, New Jersey Transferred to Villanova 25 G 5'4" Westmont, Illinois Graduated 32 F 6'2" Saint Paul, Minnesota Graduated

Incoming transfers

Notre Dame incoming transfers 1 G 5'8" South Bend, Indiana Loyola (MD) 2 G 5'8" Valencia, California Duke 5 F 6'3" Wilkesboro, North Carolina Wake Forest 11 G 5'6" Granger, Indiana Holy Cross College 23 G 5'8" Milwaukee, Wisconsin Vanderbilt 30 F 6'4" Barcelona, Spain Kansas State

Recruiting class Source:

Roster

Schedule and results

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!colspan=9 style=""| Exhibition

!colspan=9 style=""| Regular season

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Rankings

*AP did not release a week 8 poll.

References