PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers women's basketball team will open the 2025-26 season on Monday, Nov. 3 against Wagner at 7 p.m. The team will celebrate National Sandwich Day at Jersey Mike's Arena with fun surprises and giveways throughout the night.
The contest will be streamed on B1G+ and fans can also listen on Fox Sports Radio.
The entire 2025-26 Rutgers women's basketball season is presented by Prudential.
Starting Off 1-0
Rutgers has won the opening game in 11 of its last 13 seasons, dating back to the 2012-13 slate. The team only dropped contests to Georgia (57-51) in 2012 and Chattanooga (66-53) in 2016 during the span.
In addition, RU has also won its last eight season openers, going back to the 2017-18 campaign. Of those seven outings, the team won two by 20+ points and two more by 40+ points.
Home Sweet Home
The Scarlet Knights will get comfortable playing in front of a home crowd at Jersey Mike's Arena this season, with 10 home games in the first two months of the campaign.
RU will start off the slate with five contests at home before its first road game at Auburn on Nov. 20. The team will then return to New Jersey for another four-game road stand before going to nearby Princeton on Dec. 10.
Rutgers will host one more home game against Lafayette (Dec. 20) before traveling to Michigan State on Dec. 28 and fully diving into Big Ten play from there.
Last season, RU went 8-3 through the first portion of the schedule.
The Scarlet Knights Against the Top-25
Rutgers women's basketball has seven opponents on its schedule ranked in the top 25 between the AP poll and WBCA USA Today poll. In addition, seven opponents are ranked between both polls.
#3/4 UCLA
#10/10 Maryland
#13/15 Michigan
#18/16 USC
#21/23 Iowa
#23/RV Michigan State
RV/#24 Ohio State
RV/RV Washington
RV/RV Princeton
RV/RV Minnesota
RV Illinois
RV Nebraska
--/RV Indiana
--/RV Nebraska
Coaching Changes
Head coach Coquese Washington added four new coaches to her staff this offseason in Senior Associate Head Coach Shannon LeBeauf and assistant coaches Sean LeBeauf, Danielle Edwards and James Spinelli.
Before coming "On The Banks," Shannon LeBeauf, one of the top assistant coaches in the nation, spent the last 14 seasons on the sidelines at UCLA as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach for the Bruins. She is a proven recruiter, having tallied 14 Top-25 recruiting classes over her stellar career, including UCLA's first-ever No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2014-15 and its second No. 1 class in 2021-22. In her extensive time with the Bruins, LeBeauf helped guide the team to 321 wins and nine NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite 8 berth in 2018 and most recently, a Final Four appearance in a historic 2024-25 campaign.
Sean LeBeauf spent the previous four seasons at UC Riverside as an assistant coach. There he helped the Highlanders to 55 wins including 38 victories in Big West play. He helped the team advance to the Big West Tournament Championship in 2024 and onto the WNIT.
Dani Edwards arrives in Piscataway, New Jersey from SMU where she was hired as the Director of Player Personnel in April 2021 but went onto become an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the past four seasons. Edwards helped the Mustangs to new heights during her tenure, collecting 50+ overall wins and 20+ conference victories. She helped the team reach the WNIT her first two seasons, the first time the Mustangs made the postseason in back-to-back campaigns for the first time since 2014 and 2015.
James Spinelli spent the last two seasons at Northeastern as an assistant coach after spending five seasons as the Video Coordinator at Notre Dame. While with the Huskies, he coached the wings as well as serving as the lead scouter on staff and running in-practice skill development for the guards. Spinelli was also responsible for all the analytics utilized by the Huskies.
Jeanine Wasielewski enters her third season as an assistant coach for the Rutgers women's basketball team in the 2025-26 campaign and assumes the role of Offensive Coordinator for the Scarlet Knights.
Staff Updates
Washington also made some changes to her staff.
After two seasons as an assistant coach "On The Banks," Nneka Enemkpali will now serve as the team's Chief of Staff. In this new role, Enemkpali will helm administrative operations for the program as the team's primary liaison to internal support units for athletics including compliance, the R Fund, the alumni office, ticketing services, and the offices of the Chancellor and President. In addition, Enemkpali will work closely with Washington concerning matters related to revenue sharing and NIL management.
Enemkpali will also work with external units, collaborating with marketing, sports information and brand advancement on social media and communications initiatives. She will facilitate strategic community engagement opportunities for the program, while also serving as liaison to season ticketholders and the women's basketball booster club, The Cagers Club.
After one season as the interim Director of Basketball Operations, Alejandro Ramirez has been promoted in the role full time. Ramirez assists Washington with the day-to-day operations of the program in all aspects including team travel, game day organization, practice operations and recruiting.
Ramirez leads multiple game day operations efforts including the game day schedule and managing shootarounds for both home and away teams. Ramirez works in close conjunction with multiple Rutgers departments, in particular, equipment and facilities. He oversees the robust Scarlet Knight student-manager program, hiring, training and scheduling all managers working with the program. In addition, Ramirez organizes and directs all summer camps for Rutgers Women's Basketball.
Returning to The Banks
RU returns five Scarlet Knights for the upcoming season including Antonia Bates, Deja Young, Zachara Perkins, Kennedy Brandt and Janae Walker.
Transferring In
Washington and her staff welcomed six transfers for this upcoming season including Lauryn Swann (Arizona), Kaylah Ivey (Boston College), Nene Ndiaye (Boston College), Faith Blackstone (Stephen F. Austin), Imani Lester (Kansas State), Yacine Ndiaye (UNCG).
Swann comes to RU after spending her freshman season at Arizona. She was named to the 2025 Big 12 All-Freshman Team as well as earning a Big 12 All State Bench Performance of the Week and Big 12 Freshman of the Week twice. The Queens, New York native recorded 12 double digit outings and led the team in scoring five times, including a career high 22 points against Utah, (Dec. 31) knocking down a career-best six three-pointers and shooting 85 percent from field. She made 50-of-128 three pointers during the 2024-25 slate, making her one of only six Wildcats have made more three-pointers in a campaign in program history.
Ivey spent the last four seasons at Boston College where during her senior season, she led the ACC and ranked third in the nation with a 3.3 assist/turnover ratio on 160 assists and 49 turnovers. She recorded 16 helpers to go along with no turnovers against Miami (Jan. 16), the most by a player in a single ACC game since 2002. Ivey ended the season 8th in program history at BC with 455 assists
Nene Ndiaye played the past two seasons at Boston College and most recently during her sophomore season, appeared in 30 games and made 10 starts. She scored a career high 16 points and tied a season-best six rebounds at Pittsburgh (Feb. 6) and ended the campaign averaging 4.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game and netted points in 23 outings. Ndiaye was also a part of the Senegal U18 National Team and in the 2020 Afrobasket Tournament.
In Blackstone's most recent season at Helped Stephen F. Austin win the Southland Tournament Championship and secure a spot in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. She was named a First-Team All-Conference selection after leading SFA with 14.8 points per game in addition to averaging 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals.
Lester spent the last two seasons at Kansas State where she helped the Wildcats to a 28-8 overall record and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA Tournament. She saw action in 34 contests and set multiple career-highs including points, field goal percentage, rebounds, assists and steals
Yacine Ndiaye played her freshman and sophomore seasons at UNCG. She helped the Spartans to a historic 2024-25 slate, including a SoCon Tournament Championship and a trip to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Ndiaye saw action in 27 games and finished second on the team with 21 blocks. She also appeared in 12 contests during her freshman campaign.
New Knights
The team also brought in two freshmen in Precious Gem Wheeler and Makylah Moore.
Wheeler attended Franklin High School. She broke out during her sophomore season in 2022-23, recording 9.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. Wheeler also helped to lead Franklin to the Somerset County Tournament semifinals.
Moore helped her team at Nazareth High School to a NYSPHSAA Championship recording 18 points and 10 rebounds in the title tilt. She also guided her team to a Borough Championship. During her senior season, the Brooklyn, New York native averaged 21.4 points, 7,0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Reached double digit points in all 29 games, including 20+ points 11 times and 30+ five times. In addition, she posted five double-doubles and six or more rebounds in 19 contests.
Scarlet Knights on the Big Screen
Rutgers will make six appearances on the big screen during the campaign between the Big Ten Network and Fox Sports 1.
Nov. 30 vs. Saint Peter's – 3 p.m. (BTN)
Dec. 6 vs. Iowa – 6 p.m. (FS1)
Jan. 4 at Ohio State – 2 p.m. (BTN)
Jan. 22 vs. Michigan – 6 p.m. (BTN)
Feb. 17 at Illinois – 7 p.m. (BTN)
Feb. 21 vs. Penn State – 4 p.m. (BTN)
Scouting the Seahawks
Wagner ended the 2024-25 season with a 8-21 overall record, including a 5-11 mark in conference play. The team fell in the NEC Tournament Quarterfinals to No. 2-seeded Stone Hill, 72-50.
Looking Ahead
Rutgers will kick off the season with three home games during the first week of play. The team will host Quinnipiac on Thursday, Nov. 6 (7 p.m.) before welcoming Stony Brook on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
Follow Along
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