Army West Point Athletics
Army Women's Basketball Announces 2026 Non-Conference Slate
August 20, 2026 | Women's Basketball
Black Knights to open exhibition slate at UConn, headline road trips to UNC and Penn State
WEST POINT, N.Y. — Army West Point women's basketball has announced its 2026 non-conference schedule, a 12-game slate that features an exhibition match up at 2025 NCAA National Champion UConn, and marquee road trips to North Carolina and Penn State, Army Athletics announced Thursday.
"We are thrilled to announce our challenging and exciting non-conference schedule," said Head Coach Katie Kuester. "At Army West Point, we strive to compete with the best of the best. We look forward to opening at perennial national champion UConn, and traveling to an ACC opponent in UNC and a Big 10 opponent in Penn State. The bulk of our non-conference teams competed in postseason play last season, and our group is motivated to face those challenges together." Kuester enters her second season at the helm of the Black Knights.
Army opens the preseason on October 25 with an exhibition contest at UConn, led by head coach Geno Auriemma in his 42nd season and 2026 Naismith Trophy winner Sarah Strong, before shifting into the regular season November 2, hosting St. Thomas Aquinas in the home opener at Christl Arena. Army will play four of its 11 regular season non-conference games at West Point.
Non-conference road highlights include a November 27 trip to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina (ACC) and a December 10 match up at Penn State (Big 10) in State College, Pennsylvania — two Power Four opponents that will challenge the Black Knights ahead of Patriot League play. Army will also travel to Providence, Rhode Island, to face Brown (Nov. 5), to Amherst, Massachusetts, to take on UMass (Nov. 17), to Loudonville, N.Y. to face Siena, to High Point, North Carolina (Nov. 29), and to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for a service academy showdown with Air Force (Dec. 5).
At home, Army welcomes St. Thomas Aquinas (Nov. 2), George Mason (Nov. 11), St. Thomas (Nov. 14) and Binghamton (Dec. 2) to Christl Arena.
The schedule announcement comes on the heels of a breakout 2025-26 campaign under first-year head coach Kuester, who guided the Black Knights to a 26-8 record and a run to the WNIT Great 8 in her debut season at West Point. Kuester's first-year success earned her the Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year award, and she became the first Army head coach to win her debut since Maggie Dixon herself during the 2005-06 season.
The Black Knights return 12-of-14 players from last years' roster, and add six new freshman faces. Addie Ainsworth (2024-25 season) will also return for the 2026-27 season.
Game times for the 2026 non-conference schedule will be announced at a later date and will be available at GoArmyWestPoint.com.
| Date | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 25 | at UConn (Exhibition) | TBA |
| Nov. 2 | St. Thomas Aquinas | West Point, N.Y. |
| Nov. 5 | at Brown | Providence, R.I. |
| Nov. 11 | George Mason | West Point, N.Y. |
| Nov. 14 | St. Thomas | West Point, N.Y. |
| Nov. 17 | at UMass | Amherst, Mass. |
| Nov. 19 | at Siena | Loudonville, N.Y. |
| Nov. 27 | at UNC | Chapel Hill, N.C. |
| Nov. 29 | at High Point | High Point, N.C. |
| Dec. 2 | Binghamton | West Point, N.Y. |
| Dec. 5 | at Air Force | Colorado Springs, Colo. |
| Dec. 10 | at Penn State | State College, Pa. |
About Army West Point Women's Basketball
The Army West Point women's basketball program competes in the Patriot League and plays its home games at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y. For more information, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWestPointWBB on Instagram and @ArmyWP_WBB.
Media Contact
Contact Toni Bianco, Army West Point Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, for all media inquiries.
tonibianco518@gmail.com | (516) 941-6310
Army West Point Athletic Association, Inc. (AWPAA)
AWPAA is an IRS code 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established to execute the United States Military Academy's intercollegiate athletics program. AWPAA is led by a board of directors that provides guidance to the director of athletics, who serves as the primary advisor to the USMA Superintedent and the USMA leadership on all NCAA operations. The AWPAA mission is to recruit, educate, train and inspire leaders of character who are committed to the Army values through an extraordinary Division I athletic experience.
