2025–26 Penn State Lady Lions basketball team

2025–26 Penn State Lady Lions basketball
2025–26 Penn State Lady Lions basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–17 (2–13 Big Ten)
Head coach	Carolyn Kieger (7th season);
Assistant coaches	Shenise Johnson; Sean Bair; Bob Dunn; Adrienne Motley;
Home arena	Bryce Jordan Center

2025–26 Big Ten women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 2 UCLA	16	–	0	1.000	26	–	1	.963
No. 6 Michigan	13	–	2	.867	22	–	4	.846
No. 13 Iowa	12	–	3	.800	21	–	5	.808
No. 23 Minnesota	12	–	4	.750	21	–	6	.778
No. 10 Ohio State	11	–	4	.733	22	–	5	.815
No. 18 Michigan State	10	–	6	.625	21	–	6	.778
No. 14 Maryland	9	–	6	.600	21	–	6	.778
USC	9	–	6	.600	17	–	9	.654
Washington	9	–	7	.563	19	–	8	.704
Illinois	8	–	7	.533	18	–	8	.692
Oregon	7	–	8	.467	19	–	9	.679
Nebraska	5	–	11	.313	16	–	11	.593
Wisconsin	5	–	11	.313	13	–	14	.481
Purdue	4	–	11	.267	12	–	14	.462
Indiana	3	–	12	.200	14	–	13	.519
Penn State	2	–	13	.133	9	–	17	.346
Northwestern	2	–	13	.133	8	–	18	.308
Rutgers	1	–	14	.067	9	–	17	.346

† 2026 Big Ten tournament winner As of February 19, 2026 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2025–26 Penn State Lady Lions basketball team represents Pennsylvania State University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Lions are led by seventh-year head coach Carolyn Kieger and played their home games at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania as members of the Big Ten Conference.

Previous season

The Lady Lions finished the 2024–25 season 10–19, 1–17 in Big Ten play to finish in last place. They failed to qualify for the Big Ten women's tournament.

Offseason

Departures

Penn State departures
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Gabby Elliott	0	G	5'10"	Graduate Student	Detroit, MI	Transferred to Arizona State
Cam Rust	1	F	6'1"	Freshman	Wakefield, RI	Transferred to Seton Hall
Tamera Johnson	5	F	5'11"	Senior	Lafayette, LA	Graduated
Grace Hall	7	F	6'2"	Junior	Homewood, IL	Transferred to SMU
Ariana Williams	11	F	6'2"	Freshman	Chicago, IL	Transferred to IU Indy
Jayla Oden	12	G	5'9"	Senior	Baltimore, MD	Graduated
Talayah Walker	20	G	5'10"	Freshman	Odenton, MD	Transferred to Georgia Tech
Alli Campbell	22	G	6'0"	Senior	Altoona, PA	Transferred to Fairfield
Jill Jekot	24	G	5'11"	Freshman	Enola, PA	Transferred to Saint Joseph's

Incoming transfers

Penn State incoming transfers
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Maggie Mendelson	4	C	6'5"	Senior	North Ogden, UT	Walk-on; Penn State
Amiya Evans	14	F	6'2"	Senior	Penscaola, FL	Georgia
Kiyomi McMiller	23	G	5'8"	Sophomore	Silver Spring, MD	Rutgers

Recruiting

There was no recruiting class of 2025.

Roster

2025–26 Penn State Nittany Lions women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	2	Shaelyn Steele	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	So	Russell	Ashland, KY
G	3	Moriah Murray	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	RS Jr	Drexel	Dunmore, PA
C	4	Maggie Mendelson (W)	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Sr	Nebraska	North Ogden, UT
G	7	Viktoria Ranisavljevic	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	Fr		Switzerland
G	8	Nyla McFadden	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr	St. Thomas Aquinas	Fort Lauderdale, FL
G	10	Vitoria Santana	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Sr	Eastern Arizona College	São Paulo, Brazil
F	14	Amiya Evans	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr	Georgia	Pensacola, FL
G	19	Tea Cleante	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr		France
G	23	Kiyomi McMiller	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	So	Rutgers	Silver Spring, MD
G	24	Shayla Smith	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr	Universal Audenried Charter	Philadelphia, PA
F	25	Rachael Okokoh	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Fr	Capital Courts Academy	Montreal, QC
C	44	Gracie Merkle	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	RS Jr	Bellarmine	Mount Washington, KY

Head coach

Carolyn Kieger (Marquette)

Assistant coach(es)

Shenise Johnson (Miami (FL))
Sean Bair (Dickinson College)
Bob Dunn (Dayton)
Adrienne Motley (Miami (FL))

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
October 19, 2025* 1:00 p.m.	California (PA)						Bryce Jordan Center State College, PA
Regular season
November 3, 2025* 5:00 p.m., B1G+	Bucknell	W 83–55	1–0	24 – Tied	7 – Evans	7 – McMiller	Rec Hall (1,446) State College, PA
November 7, 2025* 6:00 p.m., B1G+	Cincinnati	W 82–77	2–0	20 – McMiller	12 – Merkle	7 – McMiller	Rec Hall (1,609) State College, PA
November 12, 2025* 11:30 a.m., B1G+	Coppin State	W 90–62	3–0	21 – McMiller	9 – McMiller	4 – Tied	Rec Hall (1,816) State College, PA
November 16, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Saint Joseph's	W 89–77	4–0	25 – Merkle	11 – Merkle	6 – Murray	Hagan Arena (1,522) Philadelphia, PA
November 22, 2025* 1:00 p.m.	vs. Princeton Battle 4 Atlantis	L 93–100	4–1	39 – Merkle	7 – Merkle	8 – McMiller	Imperial Arena (218) Paradise Island, Bahamas
November 24, 2025* 12:00 p.m.	vs. San Diego State Battle 4 Atlantis	W 83–67	5–1	26 – Merkle	12 – Merkle	4 – McMiller	Imperial Arena (367) Paradise Island, Bahamas
November 30, 2025* 1:00 p.m., B1G+	Yale	W 82–64	6–1	19 – McMiller	8 – Merkle	6 – McMiller	Rec Hall (1,461) State College, PA
December 6, 2025 1:00 p.m., B1G+	Nebraska	L 83–101	6–2 (0–1)	23 – Merkle	6 – McMiller	5 – McMiller	Bryce Jordan Center (1,619) State College, PA
December 9, 2025* 7:00 p.m., BTN	Arizona State	L 60–74	6–3	17 – Merkle	6 – Tied	3 – Tied	Bryce Jordan Center (1,590) State College, PA
December 14, 2025* 3:30 p.m., ESPN	at No. 3 South Carolina	L 55–95	6–4	22 – McMiller	9 – Tied	3 – McMiller	Colonial Life Arena (15,601) Columbia, SC
December 20, 2025* 3:30 p.m.	vs. VCU 4 Tha Culture Holiday Classic	W 78–66	7–4	18 – Murray	12 – Merkle	8 – Cleante	Henrico Sports & Events Center (553) Henrico, VA
December 21, 2025* 2:30 p.m.	vs. Richmond 4 Tha Culture Holiday Classic	L 54–70	7–5	15 – Merkle	6 – Tied	3 – Tied	Henrico Sports & Events Center (703) Henrico, VA
December 28, 2025 4:00 p.m., BTN	at No. 14 Iowa	L 76–99	7–6 (0–2)	21 – Cleante	11 – Merkle	4 – Tied	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (14,998) Iowa, City, IA
December 31, 2025 2:00 p.m., Peacock	No. 4 UCLA	L 61–97	7–7 (0–3)	15 – Merkle	7 – Smith	7 – Cleante	Rec Hall (2,189) State College, PA
January 4, 2026 4:00 p.m., BTN	at Wisconsin	L 73–74	7–8 (0–4)	36 – McMiller	12 – Evans	3 – Cleante	Kohl Center (3,615) Madison, WI
January 8, 2026 6:00 p.m., B1G+	No. 9 Michigan	L 65–105	7–9 (0–5)	18 – Merkle	7 – Merkle	7 – McMiller	Rec Hall (1,468) State College, PA
January 11, 2026 3:00 p.m., BTN	Illinois	L 76–92	7–10 (0–6)	24 – Merkle	7 – Merkle	7 – McMiller	Bryce Jordan Center (1,945) State College, PA
January 14, 2025 6:30 p.m., B1G+	at No. 14 Ohio State	L 84–108	7–11 (0–7)	25 – Murray	11 – Merkle	7 – McMiller	Value City Arena (5,884) Columbus, OH
January 18, 2026 1:00 p.m., B1G+	Rutgers	L 72–76	7–12 (0–8)	27 – McMiller	11 – McMiller	5 – Tied	Rec Hall (1,838) State College, PA
January 21, 2026 9:00 p.m., B1G+	at No. 25 Washington	L 65–81	7–13 (0–9)	19 – Merkle	8 – Tied	4 – Tied	Alaska Airlines Arena (2,096) Seattle, WA
January 24, 2026 5:00 p.m., B1G+	at Oregon	L 59–89	7–14 (0–10)	15 – Tied	7 – Mendelson	4 – McMiller	Matthew Knight Arena (6,106) Eugene, OR
January 28, 2026 6:00 p.m., B1G+	Minnesota	L 66–87	7–15 (0–11)	23 – McMiller	8 – Mendelson	3 – McMiller	Rec Hall (1,546) State College, PA
February 4, 2026 7:00 p.m., B1G+	at Purdue	W 85–82 ^OT	8–15 (1–11)	30 – McMiller	20 – Merkle	9 – McMiller	Mackey Arena (3,712) West Lafayette, IN
February 7, 2026 1:00 p.m., B1G+	No. 12 Michigan State	L 70–81	8–16 (1–12)	37 – McMiller	8 – McMiller	4 – Ranisavljevic	Rec Hall (2,011) State College, PA
February 12, 2026 7:00 p.m., Peacock	at No. 20 Maryland	L 62–81	8–17 (1–13)	30 – McMiller	7 – Merkle	4 – Cleante	Xfinity Center (7,015) College Park, MD
February 15, 2026 4:00 p.m., BTN	Northwestern	W 81–71	9–17 (2–13)	32 – McMiller	12 – McMiller	4 – Tied	Rec Hall (3,074) State College, PA
February 21, 2026 4:00 p.m., BTN	at Rutgers						Jersey Mike's Arena Piscataway, NJ
February 25, 2026 6:00 p.m., B1G+	USC						Rec Hall State College, PA
February 28, 2026 2:00 p.m., B1G+	at Indiana						Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Big Ten Women's Tournament
March 4–8, 2026 TBA	vs.						Gainbridge Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Source:^[1]

Rankings

Ranking movements
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP
Coaches

References

^ "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Penn State Athletics. Retrieved September 8, 2025.

[1] "2025–26 Women's Basketball Schedule". Penn State Athletics. Retrieved September 8, 2025.

[1]

Penn State Lady Lions basketball
Venues	Rec Hall (1964–1996) Bryce Jordan Center (1996–present)
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 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 appearances in italics

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

Recruiting

Roster

Schedule and results

Rankings

See also

References