GUNNISON, Colo. Western Colorado's women's basketball team has its 2025-26 schedule set, a slate that includes a national semifinalist, and three other teams from within the Mountaineers' own Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference that played in the 2025 NCAA Division II national tournament.
Western kicks off the season with a trio of exhibition contests, opening with trips to the University of Utah and to Brigham Young University before closing out the exhibition schedule with a home matchup against Northern New Mexico University.
The real fun begins on Monday, November 17 with a visit from Angelo State (Texas) University, a Rambelles squad that stole a three-point neutral-site win from Western early last season. Angelo State would go on to post an 18-12 record, its season ending in the second round of the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament.
The early portion of the schedule continues with a trip to Texas where the Mountaineers will square off against host St. Mary's University, followed by a neutral-site game in Austin, Texas, against Texas A&M International. The trip concludes at St. Edward University in Austin, against a Hilltoppers squad that Western defeated 60-44 in Gunnison last winter.
The Mountaineers enter conference play upon returning from Texas, starting on the road at Colorado Christian and at Colorado State University Pueblo.
Two more RMAC contests will be squeezed in before the winter break, which will include a visit to Lawton, Oklahoma, for a pair of non-conference games. Western will play Washburn (Kan.) University on a neutral court on Dec. 19, then take on host Pittsburg State University the next afternoon. Washburn recorded an 18-13 record last season, ending its season in the second round of the MIAA tournament against top seed and eventual MIAA tournament champion Pitt State.
The Gorillas would enter the NCAA DII tournament on a five-game winning streak, a string that would be extended after they swept through the first three rounds of the national tournament. An 11-point victory in the Elite Eight pushed Pitt State into the final four, where it would finally suffer defeat in a seven-point loss in the national semifinals to eventual national champion, Grand Valley (Mich.) State.
Western finished its 2024-25 season with an overall record of 21-8 – the second highest win total in program history – and a second place RMAC record of 15-5, earning the right to host an opening-round RMAC tournament tame for the first time since 2020.
The Mountaineers captured that opening round win to advance to the semifinal round, the first time in that round since the 2021 tournament, but would fall out of the bracket with a loss to the eventual RMAC tournament champion.
