ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT women's basketball team opens the 2025-26 season this weekend with two games at Allegheny's Women Leaders Tip Off Tournament in Meadville, Pa.
About Last Season
The Tigers made a run to the Liberty League Tournament semifinals last season, finishing with a 12-6 conference record and were 15-12 overall.
Sophomore
Maddy Ramsgard and first-year
Caroline Henderson were named to the All-Liberty League second team, while Henderson was named Rookie of the Year.
After guiding the Tigers to their first winning season since 2018-19,
Melissa Kuberka and the rest of the coaching staff were named the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Hard Work Pays Off
RIT finished among the nation's elite academic teams last season, earning a spot on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 2024–25 Academic Top 25 Honor Roll after ranking 24th out of more than 430 NCAA Division III programs with a 3.726 cumulative GPA.
Meet the Vets
The Tigers return a strong core of last season's team, including graduate students
Hannah Durand and
Sydney Pearson, and seniors
Erin DiPaola. Juniors
Faye Kaplinski,
Ella Wilson,
Sydney Dodds, and
Maddy Ramsgard also return, along with sophomores
Caroline Henderson,
Sophia Spizuoco, and
Ben Kayser-Cochran.
Locked and Reloaded
RIT returns several top contributors from last season's 15–12 campaign. Henderson led the team in scoring, averaging 13.0 points per game while shooting 42.4 percent from three-point range. Ramsgard added 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, shooting nearly 49 percent from the field.
Kayser-Cochran, now a sophomore, averaged 10.1 points and 5.6 rebounds, Kaplinski was a consistent presence inside, averaging 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Meet the Newcomers
RIT welcomes five newcomers to the 2025–26 roster: first-years
Hannah Manley,
Addison Westbrook,
Abby Cleary,
Mia Firdman, and
Caroline Smith.
Schedule
RIT opens the season in Meadville, Pa., facing Chatham (Nov. 8) and Allegheny (Nov. 9). The Tigers then travel to Boston for the Jean Yawkey Center Tournament, taking on Stevens (Nov. 15) and either Emmanuel or Medgar Evers (Nov. 16).
Non-conference play continues with road games at Geneseo (Nov. 22) and Brockport (Dec. 2).
Liberty League action begins with back-to-back road games at Skidmore (Dec. 5) and Bard (Dec. 6). RIT makes its home debut with a game against Union (Jan. 3) before hosting cross-town rival Rochester (Jan. 6).
The Tigers hit the road again to face Ithaca (Jan. 9), William Smith (Jan. 10), and Union (Jan. 13), before returning to Clark Gymnasium for a homestand against Vassar (Jan. 16) and RPI (Jan. 17).
RIT travels to St. Lawrence (Jan. 23) and Clarkson (Jan. 24), then hosts William Smith (Jan. 30) and Ithaca (Jan. 31). February opens with home games against Clarkson (Feb. 6) and St. Lawrence (Feb. 7).
The final stretch includes road games at RPI (Feb. 13) and Vassar (Feb. 14), followed by home games against Bard (Feb. 20) and Skidmore (Feb. 21).
