GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — The UW-Green Bay women’s basketball program capped off another terrific season by earning its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Asked to sum up the season in one word, head coach Kayla Karius responded: “Harmony.”
“We were all like on separate islands when we all first started and watching them all get together on the same island and play the way they played – they’re inseparable now – was really special,” Karius said.
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Karius is off to a great start in her first two years at the helm of her alma mater with a 54-15 record and has already won two Horizon League championships, sending her squad to the Big Dance each season.
“I don’t think we could have asked for a better start. The last two years have gone in the blink of an eye,” said the Horizon League Coach of the Year.
This year’s NCAA Tournament journey was different than last season. In 2025, the Phoenix relied on a veteran group that had grown and played together. Heading into 2026, nearly half the roster had to be reloaded, with six players joining via the transfer portal.
“This past year was really rewarding because you got to see so many different people from different backgrounds come together and just put everything in the personal interests aside and say I want to be a part of a winning program and sacrifice a little bit of themselves for the good of the whole, I think that was really cool too,” Karius said.
Karius said she could tell early during the nonconference schedule that her reloaded Phoenix squad had special potential.
“Those games against Power 4 teams, especially a couple that were ranked in the top 25, where we strung together not just a couple of good moments, but a couple of great quarters. I think it was after those games, even though we lose several of them, like we can compete,” she said.
Several players who transferred were seniors seeking their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Karius and her staff pitched the Phoenix as the place to make that possible, but she emphasized it was ultimately up to the players to make it happen. She said she is beyond proud that they did.
“I actually get emotional a lot of times thinking about those players who had one last shot at it and they went out and did it. That’s a memory that they’re going to have forever and it’s going to be Green Bay that they think of when they think of those dreams coming true and what a story that is,” Karius said.
Making the tournament for the third year (second under Karius) in a row is a major accomplishment, but after losing to Minnesota in the first round, Karius said her goal is now to win a game at the tournament — a feat the program hasn’t accomplished since 2012.
“We all want the next step and trust me. I do too and we do too and we’re not satisfied with we were close,” she said.
This offseason looks a bit different for Karius as the transfer portal opens two weeks later and she needs fewer additions, thanks to four incoming freshmen. Nonetheless, the grind never stops for Karius and her staff as they look to reload for the 2026-27 season. The Phoenix are graduating six players from last years team, including Horizon League Player of the Year Jenna Guyer.
