Slowly but surely, the women’s basketball season at Cincinnati is approaching, and Katrina Merriweather’s squad is looking to make a statement heading into their second season in the conference.
Finishing with a final record of 14-18, the Bearcats made a run in the Big 12 Conference Tournament and made it to the WNIT for the first time since 2019, falling to Purdue Fort Wayne in the second round.
As of June 27th, the matchup pairings have been released by the conference, which for the Bearcats will include the four new members, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado, as well as power-houses West Virgina and Iowa State, and LSU transfer Hailey Van Lith and the TCU Horned Frogs.
Besides the Arizona, Arizona State and Utah, the Bearcats have met every opponent on their new conference schedule at least once, (Cincinnati met Colorado in the 2023 Paradise Jam, falling to the Buffalo 60-77). Colorado will make the trip to The Queen City, but there will not be a return trip for the Bearcats.
Of the other home-only opponents, Cincinnati has met BYU, Houston, Iowa State and Utah in Fifth Third Arena, even though the last time Houston made the trip both teams were still members of the American Athletic Conference.
Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia are all home and away contests for Cincinnati, and will mark the first trips to Manhattan, Kansas, and Stillwater, Oklahoma for the Bearcats.
The away schedule features a trip to Orlando to take on long-time rival UCF, as well as first time visits to Waco, Texas to visit the Baylor Bears, to Tempe and Tucson, Arizona to take on the Sun Devils and Wildcats, and a trip to Fort Worth to play Van Lith and TCU for the first time since 2019 in the WNIT.
The Bearcats will also return to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Texas Tech Lady Raiders. Cincinnati swept the season series against Texas Tech in a home and away series.
The remaining schedule is still yet to be released, but is expected to be announced in the coming months.
