Entering her second year, Coach Irvin has scheduled another power conference game at home. This year Clemson is visiting Jones. Last the Cougs hosted both Arizona and Mississippi State.

Some highlights of the road schedule are Notre Dame and Arizona. A number of local teams are also on the schedule, including Illinois State, Western, Northern, and Bradley.

https://www.gocsucougars.com/news/2025/8...edule.aspx

I wonder how she is pulling that off.

NEC preseason poll is in and the Cougars are picked 3rd.

And with good reason. With a strong end to last season, the returning talent, and a second year coach, there is a lot going for the Cougars this season.

Might be one of the best womens basketball seasons in a decade, since they won the Great West and made the WCBI Final Four.

https://www.gocsucougars.com/news/2025/1...-team.aspx

We need somebody to be good this season.

Women had their first home game and got their first win. Record crowd for WBB (it was “education” day, so it was most likely all bussed in elementary or junior high kids, but still…) of over 1,500. Beats playing in an empty gym, and from my experience kids cheer like crazy lol!

Winthrop was 16-15 last season and 9-7 in the Big South, so not some hopelessly bad program by any means.

Aiyana Culver went for 33, so she’s picked up right where she left off. A good sign…

Women now 1-1, and travel to Notre Dame next.

(11-05-2025 06:22 PM)Todor Wrote:  Women had their first home game and got their first win. Record crowd for WBB (it was “education” day, so it was most likely all bussed in elementary or junior high kids, but still…) of over 1,500. Beats playing in an empty gym, and from my experience kids cheer like crazy lol!

Why not? Good marketing never hurts.

I would imagine that if schools would let everyone in free they would still come out ahead from concessions.

Not sure why Aiyanna Culver hasn’t played in the last three games, but I’d imagine she is injured.

Any team without their leading scorer is going to very weakened.

Despite getting off to a very fast start against NIU and leading at the half, they ended up falling by 10. I suspect that’s a game the Cougars would have won with Culver.

Same goes for the 11 point loss at Western Illinois.

Hope she’s back soon so the Cougars can get back to winning.

(08-26-2025 12:52 AM)Todor Wrote:  This year Clemson is visiting Jones. Last the Cougs hosted both Arizona and Mississippi State.

That is impressive. Probably two-for-one deals?

Aiyanna Culver seems to be back at full strength. The NEC freshman of the year and all conference selection from last season has been held out of some games and on limited minutes for the past few weeks.

But she came thru when the Cougars needed her versus 8-2 Arizona. She scored 23 in her 35 minutes.

The Cougars pulled to within 2 in the 4th quarter, but Arizona pulled away from there and got the win.

Still, the Cougars played very well. Turnovers and poor 3 point shooting held them back, but defense and rebounding were very strong against high level competition.

Next on the Cougars western road trip is a trip to familiar St George to play Utah Tech. After Fresno and Arizona, UT should provide an excellent change to pick up a win.

The women are having some success in NEC play. They have won 3 of their last 4 games, and are now 3-2 at home on the season. They are in a tie for 5th in the NEC currently.

Hopefully they can continue to improve and build on what they have going. Without Aiyana Culver, they are not nearly as good, but still getting some wins.

Cougar women have now won 4 out of their last 6 games going back to January 10. Still 5th place in the conference as well.

Coach Irvin is getting the program headed in a better direction.

Women pulled to 5-5 in the conference with road wins over St Francis and Mercyhurst. They have now won 4 of their last 5 and 5 of their last 7.

They may still hit their preseason poll prediction.

Cougars win at home to move to 6-5 in the NEC. Now won 5 of the last 6 and 6 of the last 8. Coach Irwin has this program headed in the right direction.

This win versus a terrible CCSU squad was far from perfect, but the Cougars hit enough foul shots down the line to get the win, 75-69.

Long at their schedule for the rest of the season, they have a fair shot at winning 6 of the 7 remaining games. FDU is likely out of the question, but early road losses to LIU and Wagner were both around 10 points. They get them at home this time.

Many of the other remaining teams are beneath them in the standings, as the Cougars have suddenly risen to 4th in the conference.

Cougars have now won 4 straight, 6 of 7, and 7 of their last 9. It is getting easier and easier to keep track of these stats since they just keep winning.

With the win over New Haven, they put more separation between them and the lower half of the conference. This win didn’t leapfrog them over any teams in the standings, and they remain tied for 4th as Wagner also won, but they are now 2 full games ahead of the next team.

The Cougars are positioning themselves well to host a first round conference tournament game. They came within a game of making the NCAA tournament last season, and are a better squad this season I believe.

The Cougars also have secured a spot in the NEC tournament now. 8 teams make it, so it’s not a huge thing, but always nice to have something locked up. After all, some team who is eligible to play in it won’t be among the 8.

Keona McGee is again NEC Player of the Week.

Earning her second Influxer/NEC Player of the Week award in the past three weeks, McGee balled out again over the weekend as Chicago State extended its winning streak to four.

The sophomore guard averaged 23.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game as the Cougars won both of their games by a combined nine points last week. McGee started the week strong with a 28-point, 13-rebound outing against Central Connecticut. She is also the first Chicago State player to score at least 28 and grab at least 13 boards in a contest in 10 years. Additionally, McGee scored 18 of the Cougars’ 25 fourth quarter points to help secure the home win over the Blue Devils.

McGee has led the Cougars to seven wins in their last nine contests and has helped them clinch their spot in the NEC Tournament.

https://necsports.com/sports/wbball

A win for the Cougars Thursday would give them a chance of being the 4 seed in the NEC tournament, if a couple other games fell their way. Also, they’d be .500 in the league.

Either way, they realistically could add a couple more wins to their season still.

Not sure there is much hope of anyone but FDU winning the NEC though. They seem head and shoulders above everyone else. They are undefeated in the league with just one game remaining g.

With the loss to LIU in the quarters, the women’s season is now finished.

The women’s program is continuing to big steps forward. Considering they were without their best player most of the season, I’d say they had a decent season.

Coach Irwin is a good coach and a good recruiter and I think the program will continue to move in the right direction. I expect next year to be a good one provided players stick around and a few new players can have an impact.

The Cougar women played 5 games versus NCAA tournament teams, plus 3 against WNIT teams.