Schedule News: UMHB women’s basketball announces 2024-25 schedule

BELTON—With just over 50 days until the 2024-25 season tips off, the UMHB women’s basketball team released its schedule for the upcoming year, highlighted by non-conference matchups against three teams that reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament. 

Due to the ASC being composed of just six institutions for the 2024-25 season, UMHB will play only 10 league games (UT-Dallas will play all ASC opponents but those games will not count as conference games as the Comets are transitioning to Division II) and 15 non-conference games, a significant difference from the 16 ASC games and nine non-league games the Crusaders played in 2023-24. 

The non-conference schedule opens with five straight games away from Belton, though the first three are in-state. UMHB begins the year with a rematch of its First Round NCAA Tournament game back in March, traveling to San Antonio for a Nov. 9 duel against Trinity (TX). The Crusaders then play at Southwestern (Nov. 15) and at Schreiner (Nov. 20), before taking a trip to altitude, playing in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, UMHB will have the exact same two-game slate as it did in 2020-21, facing Colorado College on Nov. 29—the day after Thanksgiving—and Nebraska Wesleyan on Nov. 30. 

The home opener is another contest against Trinity, with the two programs meeting in Belton on Dec. 4. UMHB plays at home later that week against Texas Lutheran (Dec. 7) before heading to the state of Washington. One of The Cru’s biggest non-conference matchups comes on Dec. 12, when UMHB plays at Whitman, a program that went 20-6 in 2023-24 and is the favorite to win the Northwest Conference title this season. Whitman is expected to return all five starters from last year’s team, and will be playing at home in this contest. UMHB also faces Whitworth in Spokane, Washington, the following day. 

The tough matchups continue just a few days later, with Wartburg coming to Belton. The Knights will return a large portion of the 2023-24 roster; a team that went perfect in A-R-C play last season at 16-0 and reached the Final Four for the third time in program history. Wartburg was 29-3 overall last season and notably went 9-0 in road games. UMHB hosts the Knights on Dec. 17, and faces a solid McMurry team, who is now in the SCAC, on Dec. 18. McMurry went 16-10 in 2023-24 and continues to be a program on the rise. 

The non-conference schedule closes with games at Texas Lutheran (Dec. 29), St. Thomas (TX) (Dec. 31), and Concordia (Jan. 6), with a Jan. 3 home game against UC-Santa Cruz in between. 

The first weekend of conference play tips off in Belton against ETBU on Jan. 23 and LeTourneau on Jan. 25. UMHB then plays at Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons the following weekend in West Texas, and two weeks later heads east for two games against LeTourneau and ETBU. The ASC slate concludes in Belton for The Cru, who hosts Hardin-Simmons on Feb. 20 and Howard Payne on Feb. 22. 

The complete schedule is below.