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Lobo women's basketball: MWC will be a one-year wonder in 2025-26
UNM Lobos’ guard Kaia Foster, left, practices with assistant coach Mackenzie Head at their practice gym on Oct. 8.
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Mountain West women’s basketball will be a different breed of cat in 2025-26.
After years of competing with 11 teams, an 18-game conference schedule and a postseason tournament that overlapped with the men’s bracket, the MWC will have none of those things this season.
The Mountain West’s late addition of Grand Canyon for 2025-26 has created a one-year wonder of a conference format with 12 schools, 20 conference games and a postseason tournament that ends one day before the MWC men’s event begins. Everything changes again next season when five schools depart for what used to be known as the Pac-12 and three new members (Hawaii, UC Davis and UTEP) join the MWC fold.
That means this year’s conference cat will be one of a kind.
“It will be interesting,” University of New Mexico women’s basketball coach Mike Bradbury said. “With Grand Canyon coming in and so many teams with a lot of turnover, it’s hard to know what to expect. It will be different, that’s for sure.”
UNM did get a bit more clarity Wednesday when the Mountain West released it’s long-awaited conference schedule. As expected, teams will start conference play earlier than in years past. The Lobos open league competition Dec. 17 against Boise State and will play three league games before the calendar flips to 2026.
New Mexico will face nine opponents twice and play single games against Fresno State (home) and San Diego State (away). MWC women’s teams were originally set to play all opponents twice this season as the league’s men did in 2024-25, but the late addition of Grand Canyon effectively dashed those plans.
The newcomer ‘Lopes will appear in two of the Mountain West’s four national television games during the regular season — including a Jan. 17 contest versus UNM at the Pit. That is the Lobos’ only scheduled national TV game.
MWC fans will see plenty of new faces in the league in 2025-26 as seven of the 12 women’s teams lost at least four starters to either graduation or the NCAA transfer portal. Defending regular-season champ UNLV and MWC tournament runner-up Wyoming lost four starters apiece, while Grand Canyon and Fresno State each lost five.
UNM, which has three starters returning (Destinee Hooks, Alyssa Hargrove and Joana Magalhães), plays the first of two exhibitions Oct. 22 against Adams State. The regular season tips off Nov. 3 against Northern Arizona.
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“We’re super excited,” Magalhães said. “We’ve been cleaning up some of the mistakes we’ve had and it’s going really well. We’re ready. It’s gonna be good.”
YELLOW LIGHT: Junior college transfer Cacia Antonio’s regular season will get off to a late start after the NCAA ruled she is ineligible for UNM’s first three games. The ruling is based on Antonio’s participation on a club-level team in her native Angola during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bradbury said. Antonio played at New Mexico Junior College for the past two seasons.
UNM appealed the NCAA’s ruling but the appeal was denied, Bradbury said. Antonio can play in the Lobos’ exhibition games and will be eligible when the Lobos host New Orleans on Nov. 12.
QUICK TURNAROUND: The Mountain West will hold its annual basketball media day and release its preseason polls and awards on Oct. 23 — the day after UNM hosts Adams State. Bradbury, Hooks and Hargrove are set to attend Media Day in Las Vegas, Nevada.
FRONT-RUNNERS: As for which players will start UNM’s exhibition opener against Adams State, the competition remains open. Bradbury listed this week’s front-runners as: Hooks, Hargrove, Magalhães, Antonio and Clarissa Craig. He added that Nayli Padilla, Drew Jordon, Emma Najjuma and Kaia Foster are in the hunt to start as well.
“The starting group has been very fluid,” Bradbury said, “and it still is.”
