The No. 16 WashU women’s basketball team opened conference play with a dominant victory 72-45 over No. 19 The University of Chicago. The win marked the start of WashU’s University Athletic Association (UAA) 14 game campaign.

WashU now sits at 5-1 on the young season, and is ranked No. 11 in the D3Hoops.com poll for the second straight week. In the game against Illinois Wesleyan, the Bears have shown that they can contend with the best teams in Division III, but still lack a statement victory against a ranked opponent. 

With 47 seconds left in the game, first-year guard Ava Blagojevich converted a layup to score the Bears’ 115th point of the game and set a program record for points scored by WashU in a single game. The previous record stood for over 25 years, set in a 114-47 win against Beloit College in 1999. 

When the No. 18 WashU women’s basketball team tips off its season on Nov. 15, it won’t just start a new season for the Bears. It’ll start a new era with coach Lisa Stone at the helm.  With two preseason All-Americans — graduate-student guard Jessica Brooks and sophomore center Lexy Harris — leading a deep lineup, Stone’s program, ranked 18th in the country in the preseason d3hoops.com poll, has the potential to run the table in 2024-25. 

While Henderson’s departure left questions about the program, the hire of a proven winner — Stone — sets the Bears up for an intriguing 2024-25 season.

“I just want the athletic department to listen,” said a former player. “It sends a really strong message to the rest of the people who are on the team that people are going through stuff, leaving, and nothing is going to change.” 

The team’s tournament run ended abruptly in the first round, however, as they fell to the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils 71-61 on Mar. 1.

Following a dominant win against Brandeis, the Washington University women’s basketball team needed to close its season with a big win against University Athletic Association (UAA) foe University of Chicago to secure its at-large spot in the NCAA tournament. 

“Winning 1,000 games is really special for the team and the coaches. This team has shown it is very capable of winning — we’re going to be a problem down the road.” 

After losing three out of their last four games, the Washington University women’s basketball team needed a big weekend to bolster their case for a March Madness berth as the Division III playoff race begins to take shape. Over the weekend, that’s exactly what they did, defeating Carnegie Mellon University on Jan. 26 and Case Western Reserve University on Jan. 28 in front of an electric home crowd.