WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College Head Coach of Women's Basketball Pat Manning revealed her team's 2026-27 schedule today, which features two home tournaments and six opponents who appeared in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament last year, not to mention the usual tough NESCAC slate.
"We are excited about our upcoming season and have built a very demanding schedule," said head coach Pat Manning, entering her 38th year at the helm of the program, "including several teams who participated in the NCAA Tournament last season. We will be challenged early and often, which prepares us for our highly competitive NESCAC conference games. We have strong team leadership, a great team work ethic and are ready to be challenged by strong competition."
Fans will get plenty of chances to check out the squad early in the season with seven of the first nine contests being played at Chandler Gymnasium. But the Ephs will find themselves on the road for the season opener at Skidmore on Nov. 11.
The home opener will be part of the Morin Memorial Tournament on Nov. 14-15 with Roger Williams, Geneseo and William Patterson in town for the two-day event. And after a matchup with RPI on Nov. 18, Williams will get a big test on its home floor with 2026 Final Four participant and 2025 Division III national champion New York University on Sunday, Nov. 22.
Following a road game at Springfield College on Nov. 24 and Thanksgiving break, the Ephs will return home for five more games at Chandler, beginning with the Shooting Touch Classic against Worcester State and another 2026 NCAA team in Framingham State on Dec. 4-5. The final game of the homestand will be on Dec. 9 against Smith College, who won its first-round game in the NCAA Tournament last year.
The Ephs travel to Wesleyan for a Little Three contest on Dec. 12 before getting a couple weeks off for the holidays. The team will continue the season when it travels to California for two games on UC Santa Cruz's home court against Puget Sound and the host school on Dec. 29-30.
With the start of the new year comes three home games, the second of which will be the start of NESCAC play against Trinity on Jan. 8.
But the toughest stretch of the season comes next with seven consecutive road games over nearly four weeks, including back-to-back showdowns with the two NESCAC NCAA teams from last year, Bowdoin and defending champion Bates. The regular season will then conclude with home games against Amherst and Hamilton on Feb. 12-13, leading into the NESCAC Tournament that opens with the quarterfinals on Feb. 20, followed by the semis and final on Feb. 27-28.
