Madison, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team is picked to finish second in the 2026-27 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) standings in a preseason poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The preseason poll was announced by the conference office Friday.
A look into the WIAC
UW-Oshkosh was picked to win its fourth straight WIAC regular-season title. After UW-La Crosse in second, UW-Whitewater is predicted to finish third followed by UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout Polytechnic.
UW-Oshkosh won the 2025-26 regular-season crown while UWL won the program's first WIAC Tournament title. With the tournament championship, the Eagles earned the conference's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) National Tournament and advanced to the program's first ever trip to the Elite Eight. UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater, UW-River Falls and UW-Platteville all received at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. UW-Whitewater advanced to the second round while UW-Oshkosh also advanced to the national semifinals.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse are ranked in both the D3hoops.com Top-25 preseason poll and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top-25 preseason poll for 2026-27. The Titans are ranked fourth in the WBCA poll and sixth in the D3hoops.com poll, while the Eagles are 14th on D3hoops.com and 19th by the WBCA. UW-Whitewater is ranked 25th in the WBCA poll while receiving votes in the D3hoops.com poll. UW-River Falls is receiving votes in both polls and UW-Eau Claire is getting votes in the D3hoops.com poll.
The top six teams in the league standings will qualify for the 2026-27 WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's). The event will be held February 23, 25 and 27, with all games hosted by the higher-seeded team. The winner of the tournament will receive the league's NCAA Division III automatic bid.
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From the court
The Eagles return three starters including senior Grace Knupp, junior Molly Janke and sophomore Jenna Welsch. These three were also three of the Eagles' top four scorers from a season ago. As a team, UWL averaged 64.4 points per game and shot 40.6% from the floor.
Knupp, a WIAC honorable mention all-conference selection, led the Eagles in scoring (10.3 points per game), assists (2.6 per game) and steals (1.5 per game).
Janke, a WIAC first team all-conference honoree, led the Eagles in rebounding (8.1 per game) while finishing third on the team in scoring (10.1 points per game).
Defensively, the Eagles held their opponents to 38.8% shooting from the floor and 24.9% from the three-point line. As a team, the Eagles forced 13.7 turnovers per game.
From the sidelines
Moran Lonning starts her fourth season as UWL's head coach after leading the Eagles to a 21-10 overall and 9-5 WIAC record a year ago. Under Lonning's leadership, the Eagles earned their second consecutive bid (automatic) to the NCAA Division III national tournament.
The Eagles captured the 2026-27 WIAC Tournament championship with a 52-49 upset win over top seed UW-Oshkosh to earn the WIAC automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III National Tournament. At the time, UW-Oshkosh was ranked fifth in the D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, giving UWL just its fifth ever win over a top-five team.
At the national tournament, UWL defeated LaGrange College (Ga.) 78-52 and Carroll University 80-60 to advance to the program's first ever trip to the NCAA III Sweet 16. In the round of 16, UWL defeated Southern Maine University 66-45 to advance to the national quarterfinals, where it faced top overall seed New York University. The Eagles fell to New York University 72-47.
Prior to being named head coach at UWL, Lonning spent the 2022-23 season as the head coach at Central College (Iowa). Prior to that she was an assistant coach at Simpson College (Iowa) from 2016-22.
Joining Lonning on the bench will be Deja Williams (third year), Bobbi Vandenberg (ninth year) and Wesley Quintana (sixth year).
2026-27 schedule
UWL opened the season with an exhibition game at UW-Green Bay on October 17 for its Pregnancy and Infant Loss Game.
The Eagles will play their first official game of the season when they travel to Decorah, Iowa, to play Luther College (Iowa) on November 11 at 6 p.m.
UWL will welcome the University of St. Mary's (Minn.) for its home opener on November 14 at 6 p.m.
The 14-game WIAC schedule will begin on Jan. 2.
