The 2025–26 Horizon League women's basketball season began with practices in September 2025 and ended with the 2026 Horizon League women's basketball tournament in March 2026. This was the 40th season for Horizon League women's basketball, and the final season before the conference expands with Northern Illinois rejoining beginning in 2026–27.

Head coaches Coaching changes After coaching the first 9 games of the 2023–24 season, Oakland head coach Jeff Tungate announced his immediate retirement on December 9, 2024, after undergoing numerous back and neck injuries, with associate head coach Deanna Richard being named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On March 24, 2025, the Golden Grizzlies hired Lewis head coach Keisha Newell as their new head coach. On March 28, 2025, Western Michigan hired Detroit Mercy head coach Kate Achter. Detroit Mercy hired Kiefer Haffey as their new head coach on April 14, 2025.

Coaches Team Head coach Previous job Season Overallrecord Horizonrecord NCAATournaments Cleveland State Chris Kielsmeier Wayne State 8th 1 Detroit Mercy Kiefer Haffey Detroit Mercy (asst.) 1st 0 Green Bay Kayla Karius South Dakota 2nd 2 IU Indy Kate Bruce Walsh 4th 0 Milwaukee Kyle Rechlicz Wisconsin (asst.) 14th 0 Northern Kentucky Jeff Hans Thomas More 2nd 0 Oakland Keisha Newell Lewis (asst.) 1st 0 Purdue Fort Wayne Maria Marchesano Mount St. Mary's 5th 0 Robert Morris Chandler McCabe UCF (asst.) 2nd 0 Wright State Kari Hoffman Cedarville 5th 0 Youngstown State Melissa Jackson Cleveland State (asst.) 2nd 0

Notes:

Season number includes 2025–26 season. Records are prior to 2025–26 season.

Preseason Preseason coaches poll + 2025–26 Horizon League Preseason Coaches Poll Place Team Votes 1 117 (8) 2 97 (1) 3 92 (1) 4 87 (1) 5 79 6 70 7 59 8 47 9 29 10 27 11 22

Preseason All-Horizon League First team Second team Colbi Maples, Cleveland State Jenna Guyer, Green Bay Aaliyah McQueen, Detroit Mercy Kamy Peppler, Green Bay Maddy Skorupski, Green Bay Jordan Reid, Purdue Fort Wayne Mya Meredith, Northern Kentucky Noa Givon, Robert Morris Sophia Gregory, Youngstown State Aislin Malcolm, Robert Morris Preseason Player of the Year: Colbi Maples, Cleveland State

Regular season Player of the Week awards

Week Player of the Week School Freshman of the Week School 1 Aislin Malcolm Robert Morris Sarah Baker Youngstown State 2 Jordan Reid Purdue Fort Wayne Rylee Bess Purdue Fort Wayne 3 Casey Santoro Youngstown State Karina Bystry Northern Kentucky 4 Sophia Gregory Youngstown State Maddie Moody Northern Kentucky 5 Alana Nelson Purdue Fort Wayne Layke Fields Robert Morris 6 Alana Nelson (2) Purdue Fort Wayne Karina Bystry (2) Northern Kentucky 7 Jada Leonard Cleveland State Danielle Cameron Youngstown State 8 Jenna Guyer Green Bay Maddie Moody (2) Northern Kentucky 9 Maddy Skorupski Green Bay Karina Bystry (3) Northern Kentucky 10 Jenna Guyer (2) Green Bay Makenzie Luehring Oakland 11 Alana Nelson (3) Purdue Fort Wayne Rylee Bess (2) Purdue Fort Wayne 12 Colbi Maples Cleveland State Makenzie Luehring (2) Oakland 13 Nevaeh Foster IU Indy Makenzie Luehring (3) Oakland 14 Izabella Zingaro Cleveland State Karina Bystry (4) Northern Kentucky 15 Sophia Gregory (2) Youngstown State Makenzie Luehring (4) Oakland 16 Izabella Zingaro (2) Cleveland State Sarah Baker (2) Youngstown State

School Cleveland State 4 0 Detroit Mercy 0 0 Green Bay 3 0 IU Indy 1 0 Milwaukee 0 0 0 6 Oakland 0 4 4 2 Robert Morris 1 1 Wright State 0 0 Youngstown State 3 3

Conference matrix CSU DET GB IUI MKE NKU OAK PFW RMU WSU YSUvs. Cleveland State–1–11–11–11–10–20–21–10–20–22–0vs. Detroit Mercy1–1–2–01–12–01–11–12–02–02–02–0vs. Green Bay1–10–2–0–20–21–10–21–10–20–20–2vs. IU Indy1–11–12–0–0–21–11–12–02–00–21–1vs. Milwaukee1–10–22–02–0–1–12–02–02–01–12–0vs. Northern Kentucky2–01–11–11–11–1–0–21–11–10–21–1vs. Oakland2–01–12–01–10–22–0–1–10–22–02–0vs. Purdue Fort Wayne1–10–21–10–20–21–11–1–1–11–12–0vs. Robert Morris2–00–22–00–20–21–12–01–1–0–21–1vs. Wright State2–00–22–02–01–12–00–21–12–0–2–0vs. Youngstown State0–20–22–01–10–21–10–20–21–10–2–Total13–74–1617–39–114–1612–87–1312–811–96–1415–5

Early season tournaments The following table summarizes the multiple-team events (MTE) or early-season tournaments in which teams from the Horizon League participated.

TeamTournamentLocationDatesFinish Cleveland State CSU Invitational Cleveland, OH November 26–29 N/A Detroit Mercy Tulane Holiday Tournament New Orleans, LA December 20–21 3rd Green Bay Cancun Challenge Cancún, Mexico November 27–29 N/A Milwaukee Tiger Turkey Tip-Off Stockton, CA November 28–29 N/A Northern Kentucky Music City Classic Nashville, TN November 25–26 N/A Oakland Raising The B.A.R. Invitational Berkeley, CA November 15–16 4th Purdue Fort Wayne Emerald Coast Classic Destin, FL November 24–25 3rd Wright State FAU Thanksgiving Classic Boca Raton, FL November 27–29 N/A Youngstown State FIU Christmas Classic Miami, FL December 19–20 N/A

Postseason Horizon League tournament

The conference tournament was played from March 2 to March 10, 2023. The tournament adopted a new format in 2026; instead of a traditional eleven-team single elimination bracket, the new format included reseeding after each round. The event started on campus sites with a play-in round for the bottom two teams (by conference record), followed by a ten-team first round. The five remaining teams then advanced to the final three rounds held at Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana. The bottom two teams by seeding play in the second round, while the other three teams are forwarded into the semifinals, with those winners advancing to the final.

NCAA Tournament

As the conference tournament champion, Green Bay received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship 13 Sacramento 2 Green Bay Bye L 58–75 vs. (4) Minnesota

WNIT

Three Horizon League teams accepted bids to the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

School First round Second round Super Sixteen Great Eight Fab Four Championship Cleveland State Bye W 74–68 vs. Monmouth W 66–56 vs. Middle Tennessee L 53–71 vs. Arkansas State Purdue Fort Wayne Bye W 77–72 vs. South Alabama L 72–83 vs. Arkansas State Youngstown State Bye W 61–42 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore L 46–72 vs. Marshall

Conference awards 2026 Horizon League individual awards Award Recipient(s) Player of the Year Jenna Guyer, Green Bay Coach of the Year Kayla Karius, Green Bay Defensive Player of the Year Sophia Gregory, Youngstown State Sixth Player of the Year Paulina Hernandez, Youngstown State Freshman of the Year Makenzie Luehring, Oakland Newcomer of the Year Izabella Zingaro, Cleveland State Sportsmanship Award Lauren Scott, Wright StateReference:

2026 Horizon League all-conference teams First Team Second Team Third Team Defensive Team Freshman Team Izabella Zingaro, CSU Colbi Maples, CSU Jenna Guyer, GB Makenzie Luehring, OAK Alana Nelson, PFW Maddy Skorupski, GB Karina Bystry, NKU Breezie Williams, WSU Casey Santoro, YSU Sophia Gregory, YSU Meghan Schultz, GB Nevaeh Foster, IUI Jorey Buwalda, MKE Aislin Malcolm, RMU Myriam Traore, RMU Jada Leonard, CSU Jenna Guyer, GB Jordan Reid, PFW Eva Levingston, RMU Sophia Gregory, YSU Maddie Moody, NKU Karina Bystry, NKU Makenzie Luehring, OAK Rylee Bess, PFW Sarah Baker, YSU

2026 Horizon LeagueAll-Tournament Team Jenna Guyer, GB Maddy Skorupski, GB Sophia Gregory, YSU Casey Santoro, YSU Izabella Zingaro, CSU Bold denotes MVP

Attendance Average home attendances Note: Figures include conference tournament

# Team Cumulative High Low Avg. 1 Green Bay 15 31,198 3,243 1,610 2,080 2 Wright State 14 23,494 6,192 996 1,6783 Youngstown State 15 21,514 3,101 30 1,434 4 Northern Kentucky 14 20,737 3,147 892 1,481 5 Purdue Fort Wayne 16 13,451 2,383 457 897 6 Milwaukee 16 10,800 2,140 308 675 7 Cleveland State 18 9,671 2,504 181 537 8 Robert Morris 14 7,646 1,289 111 588 9 Detroit Mercy 15 6,146 1,105 203 410 10 IU Indy 15 6,060 523 246 404 11 Oakland 12 5,429 821 418 603Total 164 156,146 6,192 30 981

References