Wheeling, W. Va. - The off-season has provided a lot of change for the Wheeling University Women's Basketball program, with Ella Skeens being announced as the new Head Women's Basketball coach. On Wednesday, Skeens and her team begin a new era with the release of the 2025-2026 Women's Basketball schedule. Cardinal fans will get plenty of opportunities to see their team at home, with six straight home games to start the season as Wheeling looks to get off to a hot start.
The 2024-2025 season was another successful year for the Cardinals, who finished 17-12 overall and 13-7 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. After going 1-3 through a challenging preseason schedule, the Cardinals came roaring back, rattling off four wins in a row to get them back over .500. They entered the second half with a 5-6 overall record and would go on to win six of seven to start the second half, securing their spot in the MEC Tournament. They would end up taking the #3 seed in the tournament, their highest seeding since the 2020 season, and matched up with #6 Glenville State in the first round. Unfortunately, that is where their run would come to an end as the Cardinals dropped a defensive 58-49 affair to end the season.
Just as they did in 2024-2025, the Cardinals will once again challenge themselves in the preseason non-conference schedule. The Cardinals will play a full home slate, starting with Cal-U on November 14th, and welcoming in Edinboro, Pitt-Johnstown, Washington Adventist, and Ohio Dominican during the stretch. Skeens and that team will use that stretch to prepare for the 2025-26 MEC conference opener against Point Park on Wednesday, December 3rd, which will wrap up the six-game season opening home stand. The Cardinals will end the first half playing three of their final five on the road, including a conference game against West Virginia State (12/10) and non-conference opponent Salem (12/6).
The two home games will come against The University of Charleston (12/13) and Davis & Elkins (12/17) before the Cardinals wrap up first half action on the road against Cedarville on December 20th. The second half begins on the road against West Virginia Wesleyan on January 3rd and the Cardinals are right back home on February 7th against Fairmont State. It starts a stretch of back and forth between home and away contests throughout the month, with the Cardinals playing home on three straight Wednesdays. Wheeling gets their first back-to-back on the road on January 24th and 28th when they face West Liberty and Charleston respectively, before closing out the month at home with a January 31st matchup with West Virginia State.
The stretch run will also see the Cardinals split their time with four home games and four away games during the month. February kicks off on the 4th with the Cardinals hosting West Virginia Wesleyan, before back-to-back road games against Davis & Elkins and Fairmont State. Saturday will be the Cardinals home date of choice over the final three weekends of the season, as they host Frostburg State (2/14), Glenville State (2/21), and West Liberty (2/28) to round out the season. The Cardinals will be pushing for one of the 10 spots in the MEC Tournament as they look to build off last year's success.
The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team kicks off the 2025-2026 season on Friday, November 14th, when they host CAL-U with tip-off at 2 PM.
