Cincinnati Opens Season Wednesday vs. East Texas A&M

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati women’s basketball team opens the 2026-27 season against East Texas A&M on Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. inside Fifth Third Arena.

THE RUNDOWN

• Katrina Merriweather enters her fourth season as head coach at her alma mater and 11th overall as a bench boss. She owns a 191-122 career record and has led three programs to six postseason appearances. She has also produced a Big 12 postseason honoree in each of her first three seasons at Cincinnati.
• Cincinnati will face East Texas A&M for the first time in program history, but the matchup has a familiar connection. East Texas A&M is coached by former Bearcat Valerie King '04, who is in her fourth season at the helm.
• Merriweather and King played one season together in 2000-01. Merriweather served as a graduate assistant in 2001-02, when King helped lead the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament and the program's first NCAA Tournament victory, defeating Saint Peter's in the first round.
• The Bearcats will celebrate Alumni Night during the season opener and honor the 2001-02 team. That squad finished 27-5 under head coach Laurie Pirtle, setting the program record for wins in a season. The team also captured Cincinnati's only conference tournament title, winning the Conference USA championship to earn its third NCAA Tournament berth.
• Cincinnati finished the 2025-26 season with an 11-20 overall record and a 6-12 mark in Big 12 play. The Bearcats return seven letterwinners, including five members of their nationally ranked 2025 recruiting class.
• Sophomore Caliyah DeVillasee headlines the returning group after averaging 14.5 points, 3.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game, earning All-Big 12 Freshman Team honors. She recorded six 20-point games and 23 double-figure scoring performances.
• DeVillasee finished with 106 assists last season, becoming just the fourth freshman in program history to reach 100 assists and the first since 2006-07. Despite missing four games, her 106 assists were the most by a Bearcat in a season since 2021-22.
• Cincinnati added eight newcomers to the 2026-27 roster. The class includes freshmen Zou Garba and Jaidyn Gunter, international guard Marta Fernandez, and transfers Yar Tong, Naomi Benson, Sahnya Jah, Jade Jones and Amber Bullard.
• Sahnya Jah, a 6-foot guard/forward, looks to make an immediate impact after posting career highs of 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game at SMU last season.
• Senior Reagan Jackson returns for her fourth season in the Red & Black. A three-year starter, she has appeared in 92 career games and enters the season 167 points shy of 1,000 for her career. She averaged 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in 2025-26.
• Cincinnati has established itself as one of the Big 12's top rebounding teams since Merriweather took over the program. The Bearcats have ranked in the top two in the league in offensive rebounds per game in each of the last three seasons, including 14.7 per game in 2025-26. Cincinnati also ranked fourth in the Big 12 in total rebounds per game last season (39.77), while its +5.3 rebounding margin ranked fifth for a single season in program history.
• The Bearcats have also consistently found success at the free throw line, ranking among the Big 12's top five in free throws made per game in each of the last three seasons. Cincinnati averaged 14.6 per game in 2025-26 (third in the Big 12), 16.8 in 2024-25 (first) and 15.9 in 2023-24 (first).