2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–16 (2–12 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe McKeown (17th season);
Associate head coach	Tangela Smith
Assistant coaches	Maggie Lyon; Brittany Johnson;
Home arena	Welsh–Ryan Arena
	Seasons ← 2023–24 2025–26 →

2024–25 Big Ten women's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 USC	15	–	1	.938	25	–	2	.926
No. 3 UCLA	14	–	1	.933	26	–	1	.963
No. 8 Ohio State	12	–	4	.750	23	–	4	.852
No. 21 Maryland	11	–	5	.688	21	–	6	.778
No. 25 Illinois	11	–	6	.647	21	–	7	.750
No. 22 Michigan State	10	–	6	.625	20	–	7	.741
Michigan	10	–	6	.625	19	–	8	.704
Oregon	10	–	7	.588	19	–	9	.679
Indiana	9	–	7	.563	17	–	10	.630
Nebraska	9	–	8	.529	18	–	10	.643
Minnesota	8	–	8	.500	20	–	8	.714
Iowa	8	–	8	.500	18	–	9	.667
Washington	7	–	9	.438	16	–	12	.571
Wisconsin	4	–	12	.250	13	–	14	.481
Northwestern	2	–	13	.133	9	–	17	.346
Purdue	2	–	14	.125	9	–	18	.333
Rutgers	2	–	15	.118	10	–	18	.357
Penn State	1	–	15	.063	10	–	17	.370

† 2025 Big Ten tournament winner As of February 23, 2025 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represents Northwestern University during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats, are led by seventeenth-year head coach Joe McKeown and play their home games at the Welsh–Ryan Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference.

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2023–24 season 9–21, 2–16 in Big Ten play to finish in 13th place. They lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to Purdue.

Offseason

Departures

Northwestern Departures
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Maggie Pina	3	G	5'7"	Graduate student	West Chester, PA	Graduated
Hailey Weaver	11	G	5'11"	Junior	Solon, OH	Left the team
Paige Mott	20	F	6'1"	Senior	Philadelphia, PA	Transferred to George Washington
Alana Goodchild	22	F	6'2"	Sophomore	Sydney, Australia	Transferred to Santa Clara
Jasmine McWilliams	23	G	5'11"	Senior	Indianapolis, IN	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Northwestern Incoming Transfers
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Kyla Jones	2	G	5'9"	Graduate student	Chicago, IL	Brown
Taylor Williams	33	F	6'2"	Graduate student	New Baltimore, MI	Michigan

2024 recruiting class

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight
Xamiya Walton PG	Chicago, IL	Butler College Prep	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)	N/A
Xamiya Walton PG	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 94
Tayla Thomas W	Montclair, NJ	IMG Academy	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A
Tayla Thomas W	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 91
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, 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: "2024 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2024.

Roster

2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	0	Rachel Mutombo	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	So	Good Counsel	Silver Spring, MD
G	1	Xamiya Walton	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	Fr	Butler College Prep	Chicago, IL
G	2	Kyla Jones	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	GS	Brown	Chicago, IL
G	3	Claire Keswick (W)	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr	Tabor Academy	Wrentham, MA
G	7	Caroline Lau	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Jr	St. Luke's School	Westport, CT
G/F	8	Kat Righeimer (W)	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Fr	Sage Hill School	Costa Mesa, CA
F	10	Caileigh Walsh	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Sr	Gill St. Bernard's	Sparta, NJ
G	12	Casey Harter	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	So	Souderton	Harleysville, PA
F	13	Mercy Ademusayo	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Sr	Linden Hall	Ode-Irele, Nigeria
G	21	Melannie Daley	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	Sr	Hastings	Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
F	23	Tayla Thomas	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Fr	IMG Academy	East Orange, NJ
F	25	Lauren Trumpy	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Jr	Trinity	Camp Hill, PA
F	31	Crystal Fuqu Wang	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	So	Sierra Canyon	Beijing, China
F	33	Taylor Williams	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	GS	Michigan	New Baltimore, MI

Head coach

Joe McKeown (Kent State)

Assistant coach(es)

Tangela Smith (Iowa)
Maggie Lyon (Northwestern)
Brittany Johnson (Ohio State)

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
Exhibition
November 3, 2024* 6:00 p.m., B1G+	UW–Parkside	W 88–64		18 – Jones	16 – Williams	9 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (312) Evanston, IL
Regular season
November 6, 2024* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Illinois State	L 77–81	0–1	28 – Jones	8 – Sullivan	5 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,119) Evanston, IL
November 10, 2024* 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Lehigh	L 68–85	0–2	22 – Williams	11 – Williams	12 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,166) Evanston, IL
November 14, 2024* 6:00 p.m., BTN	Utah	W 71–69	1–2	23 – Daley	10 – Williams	10 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,114) Evanston, IL
November 23, 2024* 12:00 p.m., B1G+	Harvard	L 50–75	1–3	13 – Walsh	6 – Lau	4 – Daley	Welsh–Ryan Arena (926) Evanston, IL
November 26, 2024* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Loyola Chicago	W 73–64	2–3	22 – Williams	14 – Williams	5 – Williams	Joseph J. Gentile Arena (567) Chicago, IL
December 1, 2024* 1:00 p.m., B1G+	Cornell	W 67–54	3–3	22 – Sullivan	13 – Williams	12 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (2,163) Evanston, IL
December 4, 2024* 7:00 p.m., B1G+	DePaul	W 64–56	4–3	14 – Walsh	12 – Lau	7 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,045) Evanston, IL
December 8, 2024 1:00 p.m., B1G+	at No. 23 Michigan	L 54–60	4–4 (0–1)	14 – Jones	11 – Williams	7 – Lau	Crisler Center (3,636) Ann Arbor, MI
December 15, 2024* 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Bradley	W 67–57	5–4	13 – Williams	11 – Williams	5 – Tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,130) Evanston, IL
December 18, 2024* 11:00 a.m., B1G+	UNLV	W 79–76 ^OT	6–4	21 – Daley	12 – Walsh	8 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,092) Evanston, IL
December 20, 2024* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+	vs. Charleston Hawk Classic semifinals	L 62–68	6–5	20 – Walsh	11 – Williams	7 – Lau	Hagan Arena (220) Philadelphia, PA
December 21, 2024* 10:00 a.m., ESPN+	vs. Howard Hawk Classic 3rd place game	W 68–66	7–5	17 – Sullivan	11 – Williams	5 – Lau	Hagan Arena Philadelphia, PA
December 28, 2024 2:00 p.m., B1G+	Washington	L 71–90	7–6 (0–2)	15 – Lau	7 – Williams	5 – Daley	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,439) Evanston, IL
December 31, 2024 2:00 p.m., BTN	Oregon	L 65–85	7–7 (0–3)	15 – Walsh	4 – Tied	5 – Harter	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,377) Evanston, IL
January 5, 2025 12:00 p.m., B1G+	at No. 10 Ohio State	L 62–92	7–8 (0–4)	15 – Jones	7 – Walsh	7 – Lau	Value City Arena (7,190) Columbus, OH
January 8, 2025 7:00 p.m., B1G+	Indiana	L 64–68	7–9 (0–5)	15 – Williams	13 – Williams	6 – Daley	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,452) Evanston, IL
January 12, 2025 4:00 p.m., B1G+	at No. 1 UCLA	Postponed					Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA
January 15, 2025 9:00 p.m., Peacock	at No. 4 USC	Postponed					Galen Center Los Angeles, CA
January 19, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+	No. 24т Minnesota	L 82–87	7–10 (0–6)	18 – Sullivan	10 – Williams	7 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,854) Evanston, IL
January 23, 2025 7:00 p.m., BTN	Illinois	L 60–85	7–11 (0–7)	14 – Jones	9 – Williams	5 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,735) Evanston, IL
January 28, 2025 7:00 p.m., BTN	at Iowa	L 80–85	7–12 (0–8)	15 – Tied	8 – Williams	7 – Lau	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (14,998) Iowa City, IA
February 2, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+	No. 16 Michigan State	L 75–89	7–13 (0–9)	18 – Williams	12 – Williams	4 – Tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,861) Evanston, IL
February 6, 2025 6:00 p.m., B1G+	at Illinois	L 60–73	7–14 (0–10)	17 – Walsh	7 – Daley	3 – Daley	State Farm Center (4,591) Champaign, IL
February 9, 2025 1:00 p.m., B1G+	Penn State	W 69–63	8–14 (1–10)	20 – Daley	11 – Williams	8 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,902) Evanston, IL
February 12, 2025 6:00 p.m., B1G+	at Purdue	L 60–75	8–15 (1–11)	17 – Williams	16 – Williams	5 – Harter	Mackey Arena (4,002) West Lafayette, IN
February 17, 2025 7:00 p.m., BTN	at Rutgers	W 69–59	9–15 (2–11)	13 – Walsh	7 – Daley	9 – Lau	Jersey Mike's Arena (2,327) Piscataway, NJ
February 20, 2025 6:30 p.m., BTN	No. 21 Maryland	L 79–85	9–16 (2–12)	22 – Daley	11 – Lau	10 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,726) Evanston, IL
February 23, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+	at Wisconsin						Kohl Center Madison, WI
March 2, 2025 2:00 p.m.	Nebraska						Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Big Ten Women's Tournament
March 5–9, 2025 TBA	vs. TBA						Gainbridge Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[1]

References

^ "Northwestern University Official Athletic Site :: Women's Basketball". Nusports.com. Retrieved November 7, 2024.

[1] "Northwestern University Official Athletic Site :: Women's Basketball". Nusports.com. Retrieved November 7, 2024.

[1]

v t e Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
Venues	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1975–present) Beardsley Gym (2017–18)
Culture & lore	History "Go U Northwestern" Willie the Wildcat
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

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

2024 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References