2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball
2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball
NCAA tournament
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 13
Record	27–7 (15–3 ACC)
Head coach	Jeff Walz (19th season);
Associate head coach	Jonneshia Pineda (7th season)
Assistant coaches	Shay Robinson (4th season); Amanda Butler (2nd season); Brittany Morris (1st season);
Home arena	KFC Yum! Center

2025–26 ACC women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Duke †	16	–	2	.889	24	–	8	.750
No. 13 Louisville	15	–	3	.833	27	–	7	.794
No. 15 North Carolina	14	–	4	.778	26	–	7	.788
NC State	13	–	5	.722	20	–	10	.667
No. 22 Notre Dame	12	–	6	.667	22	–	10	.688
Virginia Tech	12	–	6	.667	23	–	9	.719
Syracuse	12	–	6	.667	23	–	8	.742
Virginia	11	–	7	.611	19	–	11	.633
Clemson	11	–	7	.611	21	–	11	.656
California	9	–	9	.500	19	–	14	.576
Georgia Tech	8	–	10	.444	14	–	18	.438
Miami (FL)	8	–	10	.444	17	–	14	.548
Stanford	8	–	10	.444	19	–	13	.594
Florida State	5	–	13	.278	10	–	21	.323
Wake Forest	4	–	14	.222	14	–	17	.452
SMU	2	–	16	.111	9	–	21	.300
Pittsburgh	1	–	17	.056	8	–	23	.258
Boston College	1	–	17	.056	5	–	26	.161

† 2026 ACC tournament winner As of March 8, 2026 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represents the University of Louisville during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinals are led by nineteenth-year head coach Jeff Walz, and play their home games at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. This season is their twelfth year competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Previous season

The Cardinals finished the season 22–11 overall and 13–5 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. As the sixth seed in the ACC tournament, earned a bye into the second round where they defeated Clemson 70–68 in overtime. They lost to eleventh ranked and third seed Duke 61–48 in the Quarterfinals. They received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament and were the seven-seed in the Birmingham 3 region. They defeated ten seed Nebraska in the First Round before losing to second seed and sixth ranked TCU 85–70 in the Second Round to end their season.

Off-season

Departures

Departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Izela Arenas	0	G	5'9"	Freshman	Porter Ranch, California	Transferred to Kansas State^[1]
Nyla Harris	2	F	6'2"	Junior	Windermere, Florida	Transferred to North Carolina^[2]
Eseosa Imafidon	10	C	6'5"	Freshman	Benin City, Nigeria	Transferred to Providence^[3]
Ja'Leah Williams	12	G	5'9"	Senior	Pompano Beach, Florida	Graduated
Merissah Russell	13	G	6'0"	Graduate Student	Ottawa, Ontario	Graduated
Jayda Curry	30	G	5'6"	Senior	Corona, California	Graduated
Olivia Cochran	44	F	6'3"	Graduate Student	Columbus, Georgia	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Laura Ziegler	0	F	6'2"	Senior	Herlev, Denmark	Saint Joseph's^[4]
Reyna Scott	1	G	5'10"	Senior	New York, New York	Oklahoma^[5]
Skylar Jones	23	G/F	6'0"	Junior	Chicago, Illinois	Arizona^[6]

Recruiting class

Source:^[7]

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Peyton Bradley G	Brandenburg, Kentucky	Meade County High School	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	N/A	Mar 9, 2025
Peyton Bradley G	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (NR)
Grace Mbugua F	Danville, Kentucky	Danville Christian	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	N/A	Oct 15, 2024
Grace Mbugua F	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (92)
Yevheniia Putra F	Kyiv, Ukraine	MBK Ružomberok	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	N/A	May 12, 2025
Yevheniia Putra F	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (NR)
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:

Roster

2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	4	Laura Ziegler	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr	Falkonergaardens Gymnasium Saint Joseph's	Herlev, Denmark
G	1	Reyna Scott	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Sr	Nazareth Regional Oklahoma	New York, NY
G	2	Imani Berry	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	Clarksville	Clarksville, TN
F	4	Mackenly Randolph	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Sierra Canyon	Los Angeles, CA
G	5	Rebekah Graves	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	RS Fr	Keller	Keller, TX
F	9	Anaya Hardy	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	Renaissance	Detroit, MI
F	11	Elif Istanbulluoglu	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Jr	Fenerbahçe S.K.	Istanbul, Turkey
F	12	Yevheniia Putra	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Fr	MBK Ružomberok	Kyiv, Ukraine
F	13	Isla Juffermans	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	So	Centre of Excellence Australia	Coffs Harbour, Australia
G	20	Peyton Bradley	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr	Meade County	Brandenburg, KY
G	21	Reagan Bender	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	Sacred Heart	Louisville, KY
G	22	Tajianna Roberts	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	IMG Academy	San Diego, CA
G/F	23	Skylar Jones	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	So	Whitney Young Arizona	Chicago, IL
F	24	Grace Mbugua	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Fr	Danville Christian	Danville, KY

Head coach

Jeff Walz (Northern Kentucky)

Assistant coach(es)

Jonneshia Pineda (Georgia Southwestern State)
Shay Robinson (Central Florida)
Amanda Butler (Florida)
Brittany Morris (Seton Hall)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: September 26, 2025

Schedule and results

Source^[8]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 4, 2025* 5:30 p.m., ESPN	No. 20	vs. No. 1 UConn Armed Forces Classic	L 66–79	0–1	16 – Ziegler	18 – Ziegler	3 – Scott	Alumni Hall (3,640) Annapolis, MD
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 20	Northern Kentucky	W 89–61	1–1	23 – Roberts	11 – Ziegler	5 – Ziegler	KFC Yum! Center (7,182) Louisville, KY
November 12, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	Colorado	W 74–68	2–1	21 – Jones	6 – Tied	3 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,730) Louisville, KY
November 16, 2025 3:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 22	at Clemson	W 65–54	3–1 (1–0)	17 – Ziegler	10 – Ziegler	4 – Roberts	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,004) Clemson, SC
November 19, 2025* 8:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 21	Morehead State	W 96–49	4–1	13 – Tied	13 – Hardy	4 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,620) Louisville, KY
November 22, 2025* 2:00 p.m., The CW	No. 21	No. 20 Kentucky Rivalry	L 62–72	4–2	22 – Roberts	11 – Ziegler	4 – Berry	KFC Yum! Center (10,442) Louisville, KY
November 28, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 23	Eastern Illinois	W 91–38	5–2	13 – Roberts	12 – Hardy	5 – Ziegler	KFC Yum! Center (6,890) Louisville, KY
November 29, 2025* 3:30 p.m., ESPN+	No. 23	vs. East Tennessee State	W 88–50	6–2	17 – Berry	6 – Tied	7 – Ziegler	Knights Hall (553) Louisville, KY
November 30, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 23	Bellarmine	W 100–37	7–2	14 – Berry	10 – Hardy	4 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,942) Louisville, KY
December 4, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 22	No. 3 South Carolina ACC–SEC Challenge	L 77–79	7–3	20 – Roberts	9 – Istanbulluoglu	4 – Scott	KFC Yum! Center (10,012) Louisville, KY
December 7, 2025* 12:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	New Hampshire	W 94–43	8–3	15 – Tied	9 – Hardy	5 – Roberts	KFC Yum! Center (6,653) Louisville, KY
December 10, 2025* 9:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	Ball State	W 93–62	9–3	20 – Jones	10 – Hardy	3 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (6,477) Louisville, KY
December 14, 2025 4:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 22	at No. 12 North Carolina	W 76–66 ^OT	10–3 (2–0)	17 – Ziegler	8 – Ziegler	4 – Tied	Carmichael Arena (2,622) Chapel Hill, NC
December 17, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 16	Eastern Kentucky	W 76–51	11–3	12 – Roberts	10 – Mbugua	7 – Berry	KFC Yum! Center (6,682) Louisville, KY
December 20, 2025* 10:30 a.m., FOX	No. 16	vs. No. 17 Tennessee Women's Champions Classic	W 89–65	12–3	18 – Roberts	14 – Istanbulluoglu	6 – Ziegler	Barclays Center (10,107) Brooklyn, NY
January 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 13	SMU	W 91–58	13–3 (3–0)	15 – Roberts	9 – Berry	5 – Roberts	KFC Yum! Center (7,191) Louisville, KY
January 4, 2026 4:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 13	Virginia Tech	W 85–60	14–3 (4–0)	18 – Ziegler	9 – Ziegler	5 – Jones	KFC Yum! Center (9,594) Louisville, KY
January 8, 2026 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 10	at Miami (FL)	W 77–68	15–3 (5–0)	23 – Istanbulluoglu	9 – Ziegler	7 – Roberts	Watsco Center (606) Coral Gables, FL
January 11, 2026 2:00 p.m., The CW	No. 10	Pittsburgh	W 86–46	16–3 (6–0)	16 – Hardy	10 – Mbugua	5 – Scott	KFC Yum! Center (8,220) Louisville, KY
January 15, 2026 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 9	at No. 23 Notre Dame	W 79–66	17–3 (7–0)	20 – Scott	8 – Ziegler	3 – Tied	Purcell Pavilion (6,499) Notre Dame, IN
January 18, 2026 1:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 9	at NC State	W 88–80 ^OT	18–3 (8–0)	33 – Berry	12 – Berry	5 – Scott	Reynolds Coliseum (5,500) Raleigh, NC
January 24, 2026 11:00 a.m., ACCNX	No. 8	Boston College	W 85–56	19–3 (9–0)	13 – Randolph	8 – Tied	6 – Roberts	KFC Yum! Center (7,750) Louisville, KY
January 29, 2026 8:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 7	at Stanford	W 84–66	20–3 (10–0)	22 – Ziegler	11 – Ziegler	4 – Roberts	Maples Pavilion (2,594) Stanford, CA
February 1, 2026 2:00 p.m., The CW	No. 7	at California	W 71–59	21–3 (11–0)	21 – Roberts	7 – Istanbulluoglu	5 – Tied	Haas Pavilion (2,303) Berkeley, CA
February 5, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 6	No. 17 Duke	L 58–59	21–4 (11–1)	13 – Istanbulluoglu	8 – Ziegler	3 – Tied	KFC Yum! Center (10,553) Louisville, KY
February 8, 2026 12:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 6	at Syracuse	W 84–65	22–4 (12–1)	22 – Ziegler	8 – Randolph	5 – Tied	JMA Wireless Dome (3,617) Syracuse, NY
February 12, 2026 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 9	Wake Forest	W 86–67	23–4 (13–1)	13 – Ziegler	6 – Scott	8 – Scott	KFC Yum! Center (7,436) Louisville, KY
February 15, 2026 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 9	Florida State	W 88–65	24–4 (14–1)	14 – Ziegler	8 – Ziegler	7 – Ziegler	KFC Yum! Center (8,106) Louisville, KY
February 22, 2026 12:00 p.m., The CW	No. 8	Virginia	L 72–74	24–5 (14–2)	20 – Istanbulluoglu	12 – Ziegler	7 – Ziegler	KFC Yum! Center (8,984) Louisville, KY
February 26, 2026 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 10	at Georgia Tech	W 69–50	25–5 (15–2)	18 – Istanbulluoglu	6 – Jones	4 – Scott	McCamish Pavilion (2,188) Atlanta, GA
March 1, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 10	Notre Dame	L 62–65	25–6 (15–3)	15 – Randolph	11 – Randolph	5 – Istanbulluoglu	KFC Yum! Center (11,605) Louisville, KY
ACC Women's Tournament
March 6, 2026* 5:00 p.m., ESPN2	(2) No. 12	vs. (7) Syracuse Quarterfinals	W 87–61	26–6	17 – Roberts	10 – Randolph	5 – Tied	Gas South Arena (6,572) Duluth, GA
March 7, 2026* 2:30 p.m., ESPN2	(2) No. 12	vs. (3) No. 16 North Carolina Semifinals	W 65–57	27–6	22 – Berry	10 – Berry	4 – Istanbulluoglu	Gas South Arena (6,604) Duluth, GA
March 8, 2026* 1:00 p.m., ESPN	(2) No. 12	vs. (1) No. 13 Duke Final	L 65–70 ^OT	27–7	17 – Randolph	11 – Randolph	6 – Randolph	Gas South Arena (6,592) Duluth, GA
NCAA Women's Tournament
March 21, 2026* 12:00 p.m., ESPN	(3 FW3) No. 13	(14 FW3) Vermont Round of 64						KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. FW3=Fort Worth 3. All times are in Eastern.

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP	20	22	21	23	22	22	16	13	13*	10	9	8	7	6	9	8	10	12	13	13
Coaches	19	21	19	22	21	20	17	13	13	11	10	7т	7	6	9	8	11	12	14	14

*AP did not release a week 8 poll.

References

^ "K-State adds Louisville transfer Izela Arenas". KAKE. Kansas State University Athletics. April 19, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Former Louisville Forward Nyla Harris Announces Transfer Destination". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ "Transfer Eseosa Imafidon Commits To Providence College". friars.com. Providence University Athletics. May 16, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ Demling, Jody (April 18, 2025). "Louisville lands St. Joseph's transfer Laura Ziegler". 247Sports. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ Demling, Jody (April 10, 2025). "Oklahoma Transfer Guard Reyna Scott Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Arizona Transfer Wing Skylar Jones Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ "Louisville Cardinals". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
^ "2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball schedule". gocards.com. Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[1] "K-State adds Louisville transfer Izela Arenas". KAKE. Kansas State University Athletics. April 19, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[2] McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Former Louisville Forward Nyla Harris Announces Transfer Destination". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[3] "Transfer Eseosa Imafidon Commits To Providence College". friars.com. Providence University Athletics. May 16, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[4] Demling, Jody (April 18, 2025). "Louisville lands St. Joseph's transfer Laura Ziegler". 247Sports. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[5] Demling, Jody (April 10, 2025). "Oklahoma Transfer Guard Reyna Scott Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[6] McGavic, Matthew (April 4, 2025). "Arizona Transfer Wing Skylar Jones Commits to Louisville". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[7] "Louisville Cardinals". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

[8] "2025–26 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball schedule". gocards.com. Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved September 26, 2025.

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Louisville Cardinals women's basketball
Venues	Freedom Hall (1975–2010) Kentucky International Convention Center (1989–1993, 1994–95, 2000–01, 2008–09) Louisville Gardens (1997–98) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Kentucky
Culture & lore	Cardinal Bird
People	Head coaches
Seasons	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
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics