2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

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, led by 17th-year head coach Joe McKeown, played their home games at the Welsh–Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 9–18, 2–16 in Big Ten play to finish in 17th place. They failed to qualify for the Big Ten tournament.

2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–18 (2–16 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. 5 USC	17	–	1		.944			31	–	4		.886
No. 3 UCLA †	16	–	2		.889			34	–	3		.919
No. 19 Ohio State	13	–	5		.722			26	–	7		.788
No. 12 Maryland	13	–	5		.722			25	–	8		.758
No. 25 Michigan	11	–	7		.611			23	–	11		.676
Michigan State	11	–	7		.611			22	–	10		.688
Illinois	11	–	7		.611			22	–	10		.688
Oregon	10	–	8		.556			20	–	12		.625
Indiana	10	–	8		.556			20	–	13		.606
Nebraska	10	–	8		.556			21	–	12		.636
Iowa	10	–	8		.556			23	–	11		.676
Washington	9	–	9		.500			19	–	14		.576
Minnesota	8	–	10		.444			25	–	11		.694
Wisconsin	4	–	14		.222			13	–	17		.433
Rutgers	3	–	15		.167			13	–	20		.394
Purdue	3	–	15		.167			10	–	19		.345
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			9	–	18		.333
Penn State	1	–	17		.056			10	–	19		.345
† 2025 Big Ten tournament winner As of April 7, 2025 Rankings from AP poll

Due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Northwestern's road games at UCLA on January 12 and USC on January 15 were postponed.^[1] Northwestern forfeited the games in February 2025. UCLA and USC each were credited with a win, and the Wildcats were assessed two losses.^[1]

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.^[2]

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
Grace Sullivan	22	F	6'4"	Junior	Antioch, IL	Bucknell
Taylor Williams	33	F	6' 2"	Graduate student	New Baltimore, MI	Michigan

2024 recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Xamiya Walton PG	Chicago, IL	Butler College Prep	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)	N/A
	Recruit ratings: ESPN:    (94)
Tayla Thomas W	Montclair, NJ	IMG Academy	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A
	Recruit ratings: ESPN:    (91)
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: "2024 Player Commits". ESPN. 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 22 Grace Sullivan 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Jr Bucknell Antioch, IL 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 Last update: June 15, 2025

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	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 – 2 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 – 3 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	L	7–9 (0–6)	–	–	–	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
January 15, 2025 9:00 p.m., Peacock		at No. 4 USC	L	7–9 (0–7)	–	–	–	Galen Center  Los Angeles, CA
January 19, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+		No. 24т Minnesota	L 82–87	7–10 (0–8)	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 (0–9)	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 (0–10)	15 – 2 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 (0–11)	18 – Williams	12 – Williams	4 – 2 tied	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,861) Evanston, IL
February 6, 2025 6:00 p.m., B1G+		at Illinois	L 60–73	7–14 (0–12)	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 (1–12)	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 (1–13)	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 (2–13)	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 (2–14)	22 – Daley	11 – Lau	10 – Lau	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,726) Evanston, IL
February 23, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+		at Wisconsin	L 68–73	9–17 (2–15)	18 – Walsh	11 – Williams	7 – Lau	Kohl Center (4,390) Madison, WI
March 2, 2025 2:00 p.m., B1G+		Nebraska	L 77–98	9–18 (2–16)	22 – Walsh	7 – Williams	6 – Daley	Welsh–Ryan Arena (2,408) Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Source:^[3]

See also

• 2024–25 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team