Courtesy photo by UW Athletics
After a 2025–26 slate filled with injuries, close losses, and other factors that saw the Cowgirls have their first losing season in 10 years, 5th year head coach Heather Ezell is looking to rebound and bring the historically great program back to glory. The team, comprised of six returning players and nine newcomers, is hoping to return to the national postseason tournament for the sixth time in the last seven years, including their NCAA tournament appearance in 2021.
Returning as starters are Payton Muma and Jane Rumpf, two of four UW Cowgirls that played all 30 games last season. Rumpf was an honoree for the All-Mountain West Freshman team, leading the conference in blocks per game and three-pointers made per game within the league schedule. Meanwhile, Muma was the team leader in assists, with 79, leading the Cowgirls team to second in the conference for assists.
The nine newcomers consist of six transfers and three freshman recruits, with some exciting new names across the board. Jersey Berg, a junior college All-American coming from Williston State, will help the Cowgirls fix their last season’s greatest weakness: lack of efficient scoring. Coach Ezell also added experienced talent in senior Norah Clark from University of Tennessee-Martin, and third year forward Hayley Johnson, who averaged nearly 20 points a contest last season for San Jose City College.
With such a variety of players, all undoubtably talented, the question becomes chemistry. Practices and exhibition games towards the beginning of the season are crucial to work out kinks and adjust as a team. The first practice of the season for the Cowgirls was Sept. 21, giving them about a month before the 2-game exhibition slate against Colorado Christian University and South Dakota School of Mines starting on Oct. 26.
For the regular season, non-conference play features a variety of matchups that could be winnable games, but will test this new-look team very early on. The Cowgirls are fixed to see Missouri State University, Harvard University, Santa Clara University, Idaho University, and University of Texas-Arlington right here in Laramie, as well as face away games at Colorado State University, University of Colorado, South Dakota State University, and a tournament at University of California-Irvine. Those games will show what this team has done in the offseason, and what they’re made of going into the very different Mountain West.
In the last 20 years, the Cowgirls have had a total of three losing seasons. The additional players to Heather Ezell’s team this year give fans, coaches, and players a hope that this year is going to reverse the course of last year’s struggles, and return Cowgirl basketball to a feared program in the Mountain West. Since the Cowgirls’ victory in 2021, University of Nevada, Las Vegas has won the last four conference championships. This year, with a lot of fire behind them, the Cowgirls will contend with the Rebels yet again, and hopefully, dethrone them.
