We're approaching the finish line for the 2026 girls basketball recruiting cycle.
At this point, the vast majority of top players have committed to a college destination. We'll still see some more commitments in the spring and even late summer, and I'm tracking a handful of uncommitted standouts left to announce a decision. But we can start to draw some themes from the wave of commits.
Our 2026 commitments database has more than 150 entrants, including more than 35 Division 1-bound prospects. I've reflected on the database and our final Top 50 prospect rankings to draw some key takeaways from this year in recruiting.
Who's winning in securing the region's next college stars? Here's what stuck out to me.
Which high-majors added the top prospects?
I consider "high majors" in women's basketball to include Power Four conferences (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12) and the Big East. We had four such commits in this recruiting cycle.
Fope Ayo (Michigan) and Elyse Ngenda (Stanford) are our top two prospects from the class. They also appeared on ESPN's national rankings, and it makes sense that they generated interest from big-brand programs we don't see recruit New England often. Michigan reached the Elite Eight in this year's NCAA Tournament. Stanford, though it missed out on March Madness, won 21 games and reached the WBIT quarterfinals in Year 2 under coach Kate Paye. Both local stars will find themselves on big stages next year.
Serenity Lancaster, our No. 3 prospect, chose St. John's. The Johnnies went 22-14 last season and had Middletown, Conn., native Janeya Grant on the roster. They've recruited from the region a bit in recent years.
Brooke Golden, No. 7 in our rankings, committed to Northwestern. The Wildcats have also targeted New England under now-retired coach Joe McKeown. Veronica Burton is the most memorable local star, but more recently, Caroline Lau (St. Luke's/Westport, Conn.) also grew into the nation's leading assister this past season. Carla Berube, an Oxford, Mass., native, just left Princeton to take the open position.
Central Connecticut, Holy Cross, Stonehill finding under-the-radar talent
Central Connecticut added the most area prospects of any Division 1 program.
The Blue Devils made all of their recruiting moves in NEPSAC during the 2026 calendar year, securing late commitments from Jill Dingler and NyAsia McKelvey at Darrow, plus Isys Dunphy (Cushing) and Liana Salamone (Ethel Walker). Dingler in particular is a steal as our 17th-ranked player in the class. Kristin Caruso, completing her first year as full-time head coach, has a lot of work to do with a program that went 2-27 last year and finished third-worst in the nation in NET ranking. This is a promising start.
But, as NEPSAC continues to expand its control over the region's top talent, Holy Cross and Stonehill went in a different direction.
The Crusaders recruited Northwest Catholic star Abby Casper, the top player in the CIAC last season, and Maine's top standout in Maddie Provost of Lawrence. I have the two Gatorade Player of the Year winners No. 12 and No. 15, respectively, in our prospect rankings. They're two smart finds by coach Candice Green and her staff. Holy Cross is among the year-over-year leaders in adding local talent; three of this season's Crusaders played in NEPSAC. It's neat to see the reigning Patriot League champions looking at the entire region.
Stonehill landed two MIAA Catholic school players in Mollie Mullen (Bishop Feehan) and Caitlin Boyle (Bishop Fenwick). This continues a trend of hitting overlooked local Div. 1 recruits hard. Eight of this year's Skyhawks were New England natives, including six from state association schools, and two more non-New Englanders played in NEPSAC. Stonehill added an underrated NEPSAC prospect as well in Williston Northampton's Skyler Walker.
The Skyhawks just wrapped up their fourth season in Div. 1, still under longtime coach Tricia Brown, and are finding their footing in the NEC. But I think this recruiting approach is working well for now. Their three leading scorers — Brooke Paquette (Bishop Guertin), Julia Webster (Bishop Feehan) and Ella Pelletier (Oxford Hills) — all came from local high schools.
My favorite Div. 2 and Div. 3 recruiting classes
New England's Division 2 and 3 schools compete at a national level with help from local stars. Schools often recruit handfuls of the area's talent at a time. Here are a few I think nailed their next cores.
Bentley — The Falcons have Tess Adams (Tabor), Maddy Burke (Sacred Heart), Vanessa Ellis (Nobles) and Elle Orlando (Notre Dame Hingham) coming aboard next season. This is an awesome group. Ellis is our top-ranked Div. 2 prospect in the region as a smart, high-motor, 5-11 forward. Adams is a phenomenal defensive guard, Burke is a versatile scorer and Orlando can heat up behind the arc. Bentley is a perennial Div. 2 national contender under coach C White and that should stay true with these recruits.
St. Anselm — I love this guard group: Callie Cosgrove (Tabor), Dylan Hurley (Whitman-Hanson), Maddie McCaffery (Tilton) and Bella Miele (Marianapolis). Those are four standouts who know how to play fast and attack off the dribble. Hurley and McCaffery in particular can light up the 3-point arc, while Miele is a sound playmaker and Cosgrove a tough defender.
Trinity — The Bantams actually logged their fewest wins (16) since the pandemic and are still among the contenders in a stellar NESCAC. They went all-in with this class: Ava Curto (Sacred Heart), Angie Djoko (Danvers), Avery Gamble (Oliver Ames), Jules Giordano (Brooks), Kailey Sullivan (New Hampton) and Leni Rodriguez (Darrow). That's a pretty well-rounded lineup on its own with perimeter shooters, cutters, and a relentless rebounder in Djoko. Definitely watch this core as Trinity aims to take down some of Division 3's top teams.
Will BC join the local party again?
Last year, Boston College was the only one of 24 New England Div. 1 schools without a New England native or former NEPSAC athlete on the roster.
Fourteen different schools from New England recruited players in the 2025 high school class. Add Central Connecticut, Merrimack, Sacred Heart and UNH as schools who jumped back in with recruits from this cycle — so 18 of 24 schools have recruited a player within the last two years. Harvard, Rhode Island, Yale and UMass have not had recent luck but still have at least one such player on the roster. That leaves UConn (arguably the most selective with its recruiting in the entire country) and BC.
Could that change? I attended the introductory press conference for new head coach Kate Popovec-Goss on March 31. In her opening remarks, Popovec-Goss (formerly the Bradley head coach and Northwestern associate head coach) specifically noted the Northeast as an area she expected to recruit from. I asked her how she'd reestablish BC as a priority local destination.
"I think you just have to make them believe that they can be an impact here," Popovec-Goss said. "I think recruiting all over the country has shifted. The pride for your hometown just across the nation is something that I think — because sports is localized so much, you can watch so many more teams on TV. Kids have a lot more options. But I think just reminding them that the one in their backyard could be one of the best among them.
"This is an academic institution. It's going to give you one of the best degrees in the country. We're going to be competitive in every space, and we play in one of the best leagues in the country. I've actually recruited the Northeast and East Coast quite a bit throughout my career. There's two players that are right from around here. One is Veronica Burton, and she was the Most Improved Player of the WNBA this year, played for Valkyries, family's from Newton. And another one is Abbie Wolf — Greenwich, Connecticut kid — and both of those kids came to Northwestern and won a Big Ten Championship for us and went on to have pro careers. This is a region rich in basketball talent. I think you just have to go get it, and you have to show them that this is a great fit for them. So we will attack it hard."
