Northwestern women’s basketball roster preview

With a majority of the college basketball transfer activity wrapped up, Head Coach Carla Berube basically has her first Northwestern roster for the ‘26-27 season.

Over the course of the offseason, Northwestern lost four of its six main rotation players from last year’s team, with Grace Sullivan, Caroline Lau and Tate Lash graduating, and Tayla Thomas transferring to Minnesota.

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NU replenished its depth with four new transfers, but many questions remain unanswered. Using the players of Berube’s 26-4 Princeton Tigers roster of last year as examples, here’s what Northwestern’s rotation might look like next season.

​Starters

Point Guard: Xamiya Walton, 5-foot-7 junior (7.1 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 1.8 APG, for Northwestern in ‘25-26)

Walton was an important piece of last year’s Wildcat team, averaging over 29 minutes per game and serving as the primary backup guard. She’s an instinctual scorer and provided essential spacing last season, shooting a team-high 38.7% from three.

​All signs point to the rising junior taking another step forward in her junior season, which would mean taking over as Northwestern’s lead ballhander. Walton’s player type on a Berube-led team is embodied by Princeton’s Skye Belker, who averaged 12.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 32.8 minutes per game last season. Those numbers seem very doable for Walton, given the expected increased workload. Belker and Walton are similar in height, and both struggle at times on defense, but they can be spark plugs offensively. Belker shot 43% from three for the Tigers, so if Walton can improve her stroke from deep, she will fit right into Berube’s plans.

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​Overall, Walton’s offensive potentioal should make up for her weaknesses. If she she competes on the defensive end and aggressively crashes the boards, she could be a viable leader for the ’Cats.

Shouting Guard: Lily Carmody, 5-foot-11 junior (12.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.1 APG for Boston College in ‘25-26)

​Carmody was…

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Publish date : 2026-05-22 16:23:00

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