PRINCETON, N.J. — Following another strong season on the national stage, Ivy League women’s basketball is set to tip off the 2026–27 campaign on Monday. Seven Ivies will take the floor on opening day, with all eight programs beginning their seasons by Tuesday.
2025-26 RECAP
Princeton captured both the Ivy League regular season and Ivy Madness titles, finishing the season 26-4 overall and earning the program’s seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Columbia closed out a 25-win season by winning the 2026 WBIT championship, while Harvard advanced to the WBIT quarterfinals.
The season continued a strong stretch nationally for the Ivy League, which has finished in the top 10 of the conference NET rankings in each of the last three seasons. Ivy League programs have accumulated 49 wins over power conference opponents since 2021-22, including 15 last season.
2026-27 SEASON PREVIEW
For the second consecutive season, Princeton, Columbia and Harvard all earned first-place votes in the Ivy League Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll. The reigning champion Tigers were selected as the preseason favorite with 15 first-place votes and 161 points, followed by Columbia with five first-place votes and Harvard with one.
Three Ivies have already earned preseason national recognition, as Columbia’s Riley Weiss, Princeton’s Fadima Tall and Harvard’s Karlee White were named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List. Weiss, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, was also one of 20 players nationally selected to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Preseason Watch List, recognizing the top shooting guard in NCAA Division I women’s basketball.
On the coaching side, Columbia’s Megan Griffith and Harvard’s Carrie Moore were named to the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Preseason Watch List. Griffith guided Columbia to the WBIT title a season ago, while Moore led Harvard to its third 20-win season in four years and a trip to the WBIT quarterfinals.
Princeton will begin a new era under head coach Lauren Gosselin, who takes over a program that has won five Ivy League championships during her time on staff since 2019. The Tigers return four All-Ivy selections, the most of any team in the conference.
OPENING WEEK
The 2026–27 season gets underway Monday with seven Ivy League programs in action. Cornell opens with one of the league’s biggest early tests, traveling to face preseason No. 2 UConn, while Harvard visits No. 17 Minnesota. Princeton opens its title defense at home against Belmont, Columbia hosts Davidson, Brown travels to Siena, Dartmouth welcomes Boston University and Yale hosts Elms. Penn opens its season Tuesday against Swarthmore.
The opening week will also feature the debut of Opening Statement, the new women’s basketball non-conference scheduling partnership between the Ivy League, American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference and Missouri Valley Conference. Princeton will take on Richmond and Murray State in Richmond, while Columbia will face Rhode Island and Belmont in Nashville on Nov. 6 and Nov. 8.