Picked to finish last in the Horizon League, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies women’s basketball team (10-21, 7-13 Horizon) instead delivered one of the program’s most encouraging seasons in recent years.
While the Golden Grizzlies didn’t make the cut to visit Indianapolis, Golden Grizzly fans should feel optimistic about this season and what’s ahead.
Still, the 2025-26 season wasn’t without its challenges. Oakland started 3-9 before earning its first Horizon League win against Robert Morris. The Golden Grizzlies also had two separate five-game losing streaks.
Injuries only compounded those struggles, forcing Oakland to reshuffle its rotation multiple times throughout the year. Regular starter Angie Smith and Cali Denson, who led Oakland in three-point percentage this season, both dealt with season-ending injuries, which disrupted the team’s rhythm at times.
Even with those setbacks, Oakland as a team compiled a better overall record and conference record compared to last season, while also exceeding not only the expectations of head coaches in the Horizon League but also those of us at the HoriZone Roundtable.
In both Horizon League preseason polls, one that had the head coaches of the conference vote and the other that had writers and contributors to the HoriZone Roundtable vote, the Golden Grizzlies were expected to finish dead last in the conference.
Despite these expectations, head coach Keisha Newell led Oakland to an eighth-place finish in the Horizon League standings. That finish was three spots higher than the preseason projections.
Looking past the standings, there was something that remained consistent all season for the Golden Grizzlies that has been missing from the program: the team was fully bought in.
No matter the circumstances or the challenges that presented themselves, the Golden Grizzlies never lost their competitive edge. The way Oakland played with energy and belief deep into the season was a noticeable shift from last season’s late collapse.
Taking a look at an individual performance, it wouldn’t be a proper season recap without mentioning the emergence of freshman guard Makenzie Luehring.
Originally slated to join Newell at Lewis University, Luehring followed Newell to Oakland and was dominant all season long. Luehring finished the season leading the Golden Grizzlies in points, assists and steals.
Those statistics and Luehring’s effort culminated in a Freshman of the Year award, marking Luehring as the first Golden Grizzly to win the award since Brooke Quarles-Daniels in the 2022-23 season.
Luehring also earned First Team All-League honors, becoming the first Oakland player in five seasons to earn them. The last Golden Grizzly to win the award was Kahlaijah Dean, dating back to the 2020-21 season.
Looking Ahead
While a long off-season is what’s next for Oakland, which will look to retain key players such as Layla Gold, Sereniti Roberts-Adams, Smith and Luehring heading into next season and navigate the transfer portal, there are a couple of things to note.
Newell is no longer the new kid on the block, which in itself is a good thing. With a year of head coaching in the Horizon League under her belt, that experience will translate well into next season.
All in all, a culture is brewing in this Oakland program, a culture that could lift the Golden Grizzlies to heights the program hasn’t seen in years.
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