As the 2025–26 season gets underway, Southern Connecticut State University women’s basketball is hitting the court with focus, energy, and a powerful sense of legacy. Head Coach Kate Lynch — a 2007 NCAA Division II national champion with the Owls — enters her 13th year at the helm with a strong returning core and high hopes for another postseason run.
The team’s early exhibition against defending Division I national champion UConn offered a high-profile learning opportunity and a moment of reflection for Lynch, who vividly remembers the feeling of cutting down the nets with her teammates nearly two decades ago. Watching UConn’s Paige Bueckers embrace Geno Auriemma in the closing seconds of their most recent title win stirred those memories — and reminded Lynch of the pride, grit, and joy that come with chasing greatness.
“Every time I see a team cut down a net or have a moment like that I get a little emotional,” Lynch told CT Insider. “I remember that feeling of accomplishing what you set out to do.”
This fall, Lynch and the Owls shared those reflections and more during the annual Tip-Off Talk fundraiser at Aria in Prospect, an event that supports both the men’s and women’s basketball programs. The event spotlighted the program’s momentum and its vision for the future — a future fueled by experience, new talent, and the drive to represent Southern on the national stage once again.
Southern opened its regular season at home on Nov. 15 against Georgian Court, with standout returners Hope Fox, Rheyna Steinauer, and Jillian Martin leading the way alongside a group of promising newcomers.
Read the full story on CT Insider: How UConn women’s basketball NCAA title run sparked memories for Southern Connecticut’s Kate Lynch
