MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's women's basketball program announced their 2025-26 non-conference schedule Thursday morning, featuring power four games against Cal, USC and Hoopfest Classic opponent Oregon. The Gaels will officially kick off their 2025-26 season on Tuesday, November 4th in a road game against Wyoming, just their fourth matchup all-time with the Cowgirls. They'll return to Moraga later in the week for their home opener against DII member Chico State on Friday, November 7th.
GAELS VS. COWGIRLS IN SEASON OPENER
Saint Mary's will head to Laramie, Wyoming for the first time since 2018 to take on the Cowgirls for just the fourth time in program history. Wyoming was a part of a wild Mountain West women's basketball tournament where they were the two-seed, defeating Air Force in the quarters and Fresno State in the semis to matchup with four-seed San Diego State in the championship.
The two teams would battle through regulation and three overtime periods but the Aztecs would come out with the 72-68 victory to send them to the NCAA Tournament. The Cowgirls played in the championship game of the Mountain West tournament for the second time over the last three seasons after falling to UNLV in 2023. Wyoming finished with 14-conference wins to set a single-season program record and recorded 20+ wins for the second time over the last three seasons.
SHOWDOWN IN FRISCO
Replacing last year's Bank of Hawaii Classic, Saint Mary's will head to Frisco, Texas as a member of this year's Hoopfest Classic featuring nine Division I programs. In the recent bracket reveal the Gaels drew Big Ten member Oregon and the Mean Green of North Texas for their first ever all-time meeting.
Oregon was a 20-win program last season and earned the 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks knocked off 7-seed Vanderbilt to advance to the second round before falling to 2-seed Duke. For North Texas, the Mean Green had a historic season with a 15-3 conference record and a program record 25 wins. UNT had won seven consecutive games heading into their conference tournament before falling to South Florida in the semi-finals. Their season would come to an end in the second round of the WNIT after a two-point overtime defeat to Troy.
Additional information related to the Hoopfest Classic can be found at hoopfestbasketball.com.
POWER FOUR MATCHUPS
After just one power four matchup a season ago, the Gaels will have three in their non-conference slate this season including Cal, Oregon and USC. Saint Mary's will take on the Cal Golden Bears just before they depart for the Hoopfest Classic in Texas in what will be their fifth straight matchup dating back to 2021. The Golden Bears won 25 games a season ago and earned the 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament for their 15th all-time appearance. Their season would end in the first round at the hands of 9-seed Mississippi State.
As discussed earlier, Oregon was also an NCAA Tournament team with their 20 wins last season. The Ducks pulled off a first round upset over 7-seed Vanderbilt before seeing their season come to an end with a defeat to ACC Champions Duke. Lastly, Saint Mary's will head to SoCal to take on national powerhouse USC in their first contest following the Hoopfest Classic in Frisco.
The Trojans have been one of the top women's basketball programs in recent years, winning 31 games in 2025 and being crowned the Big Ten regular season champs with a dominant 16-1 record. They fell in the Elite Eight to the eventual national champs UCONN to end their postseason run and will likely be positioned for another tournament run in 2026. This is the first meeting between the two programs since 2022.
The Gaels non-conference schedule will end with another tough stretch of games including Grand Canyon, Fresno State and New Mexico State before resting up for the holidays and starting up conference play at the end of December. The full non-conference schedule can be found below or at smcgaels.com. Additional game information and times will be made available with the release of the full 2025-26 schedule.
DATE H/A OPPONENT
11/4/25 Away Wyoming
11/7/25 Home Chico State
11/9/25 Home San Francisco State
11/14/25 Away UC Riverside
11/16/25 Home Nevada
11/20/25 Away Cal
11/25/25 Neutral *Oregon
11/26/25 Neutral *North Texas
12/2/25 Away USC
12/4/25 Away San Jose State
12/7/25 Away Grand Canyon
12/10/25 Home Fresno State
12/20/25 Home New Mexico State
*Hoopfest Classic (Frisco, Texas)
All non-conference home games will be streamed live on ESPN+ and tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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