USF Women's Basketball looks to keep dancing in the 2025-26 season

After one of their most successful seasons in program history, the University of St. Francis (USF) women’s basketball team looks to continue its dominance on the court. Last season, the team shocked the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) by finishing third in the regular season and reaching the conference championship game. This all culminated in reaching the NAIA national tournament with an at-large bid, where they won a game against Rocky Mountain College. 

Head Coach John McGinty, entering his fifth season here at USF, talked about their very successful and fun last season. 

“They bought in, put in extra time in the gym and weight room, as well as were very particular about staying healthy by working with our strength coach,” McGinty said. “A ton of that credit goes to the junior leaders we had on our team, who were crucial in responding from their sophomore year by putting in the work needed to be successful, playing with a chip on their shoulder, sticking together through four quarters where we had multiple come from behind wins, and most importantly holding teammates accountable and on the same page.”

Two of those leaders who are now seniors, Laurelei Thormeyer and Tykara Harrison, expressed that while they were happy with last season's results, there was still more room to improve on their goals.

 “We want to win, and we want to win a lot,” Thormeyer said. “Make deep postseason runs, stay as healthy as possible, and see how far we can go.”

While the season starts on Oct. 24, the women have already been preparing for many months in the offseason to be ready for games. 

“Coming in over the summer, working out with the team, learning our coaching staff and some of the principles we run during the season,” Harrison said. “The summer league that we played, we did pretty good, people showed up and they broadcasted their skills.”

The team has nine players coming back from last year's team, including leading scorer and All-CCAC second team member Le’Lani Harris and leading rebounder and all-freshman pick Symone Harrell. Along with them, Harrison also made the All-CCAC second team, and Thormeyer was an honorable mention selection. 

With the group being largely the same, the off-court bond they built last season has already translated very smoothly into this pre-season. 

“A big thing is that we’re always together,” Harrison said. “Whether we’re eating food, hanging out, doing homework, that’s helped us form a better bond last year and going into this year.”

Along with the returners, coach McGinty has brought in five new players, three freshmen and two transfers, to fill out the roster after seven players departed following last season. The departures include key bench players Abby Shepard and Amou Ring, along with other rotational pieces on the team. Despite this, coach McGinty feels that these additions will help elevate the team’s performance.

“We have added athleticism on both ends, being able to guard 94 feet, as well as attack the rim physically,” McGinty explained. “We have also added shooting, with multiple guards and bigs that can stretch the floor behind [the three-point line].”

On the court, the team's identity is largely shaped by the five core values that the team has set in place, which were explained by Thormeyer. 

“We have five core values within our team. We want to perfect those values as best we can,” Thormeyer said. “Be a great teammate, manners matter, trust, commitment, and toughness. Those are our five big core values.”

When asked about his team’s identity, coach McGinty went for a more off-the-court answer. 

“I hope when fans, faculty, staff, admin and alums come watch us play, they leave saying we have players who are great ambassadors of the university,” McGinty said. “We have high academic, personable athletes who I believe represent this university as proud as anyone. With that, we want our team to be team first, prepared and show our work ethic on and off the court.”

While the team is no longer considered an underdog after their CCAC run last season, their approach to the season still hasn’t changed. Even in a tough conference, the team feels that they have a very good chance of winning the conference title and tournament. 

“Our conference is really tough. We have to give a lot of credit to those top teams in the conference,” Thormeyer said. “We don’t take anybody lightly. We prep the exact same for every single opponent. We really take pride in our scouts as well, knowing each player and their tendencies.”

The ultimate goal for the team? Coach McGinty says his message to them is “cliché” but one that he feels will be a driving force for the team's success this season. 

“Continue to get better to be playing our best basketball in February and March,” McGinty said. “If we can do that, we feel we can put ourselves in a position to have a fun, successful season with a chance to compete for postseason basketball in our conference tournament and beyond.”