The 2025–26 Alabama State Lady Hornets basketball team represents Alabama State University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Hornets, who are led by first-year head coach Johnetta Hayes, play their home games at the Dunn–Oliver Acadome in Montgomery, Alabama as members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
Previous season The Lady Hornets finished the 2024–25 season 6–24, 4–14 in SWAC play, to finish in eleventh place. They failed to qualify for the SWAC tournament, as only the top eight teams in the conference qualify.
Freeman-Jackson announced her retirement from Alabama State on March 25, 2025, after 27 seasons. Rutgers assistant coach Johnetta Hayes, who was previously head coach at Texas Southern and UMBC, was hired by the Lady Hornets on April 11.
Preseason On October 7, 2025, the SWAC released their preseason coaches poll. Alabama State was picked to finish ninth in the SWAC.
Preseason rankings SWAC preseason pollPredicted finishTeamVotes (1st place) 1 Southern 265 (14) 2 Alabama A&M 224 (5) 3 Jackson State 213 (1) 4 Texas Southern 202 (1) 5 Grambling State 186 (2) 6 Alcorn State 164 7 Bethune–Cookman 119 8 Florida A&M 111 9 Alabama State 98 10 Prairie View A&M 93 11 Arkansas–Pine Bluff 63 12 Mississippi Valley State 56
Source:
Preseason All-SWAC Teams Preseason All-SWAC TeamsTeamPlayerPositionYearSecondKaitlyn BryantForwardSenior Source:
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=""| SWAC regular season
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Sources:
References