St. Louis – The No. 25 University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team tips off its 2026-27 season on Monday (Nov. 9) as it travels to Warrensburg, Mo., to take on No. 14 Central Missouri at 6 p.m. at the Jerry M. Hughes Athletic Center.

The Tritons return eight players from last season's squad that won a school-record, won the program's first conference regular season title, advanced to the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament championship game for the first time in program history, made its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and won its first NCAA Tournament defeating Ferris State in the first round of the tournament.

UMSL returns three starters from last year's squad including GLVC Player of the Year Mara Rieder and GLVC Freshman of the Year Jayden Kuper. Rieder led the GLVC in scoring with 19.5 points and was tied for the league lead in rebounding at 10.1 per contest. She finished the season third in the conference in free throw shooting at 85.8 percent and fourth in field goal percentage connecting on 53.1 percent of her attempts.

Kuper was the Tritons' second leading scorer at 14.2 points per game and was third in rebounding at 7.2 per contest. She led the team with 64 steals and was second on the squad with 86 assists and led the team with 51 three-point field goals made.

Also returning are sophomore guards Lexi Hanna and Jaeda Wilson along with senior guards Addison Swadinsky, Abby Peterson and Aliya Tripp and senior forward Emerson Weller.

UMSL added three transfers and two freshmen to its roster which includes sophomore guards Addie Hanna and Audrey Blaine along with junior guard Ashtyn Kelderman. Freshmen guard Raya Shaw and post Taylor Walter round out the roster.

The Jennies opened the season last weekend traveling up the Wisconsin Dells for the Midwest Tip-Off Challenge. UCM defeated Northern Michigan 56-35 in its season opener, fell to top ranked Grand Valley State 68-40 before concluding the weekend with an 82-63 victory over Lake Superior State.

Taylor Weishaar leads the Jens in scoring and rebounding with averages of 16.7 and 8.0 points per game to go along with 11 steals and seven blocked shots. Neely Schaaf and Hayden Heim are adding 9.7 and 9.0 points per game respectively.

UCM is the preseason favorite to win the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and are coming off a season in which it went 26-7 including 17-2 in the MIAA, won its 13th regular season championship in program history and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tritons host Roosevelt in their home opener next Friday (Nov. 13) at 1 p.m. on Chuck Smith Court inside the Mark Twain Building.