Illinois Women's Basketball Guard Gretchen Dolan to Miss Remainder of Season

Dolan, who hadn't played since Feb. 1 at Washington, underwent surgery for a knee injury that had hampered her for much of the 2025-26 season

Illinois guard Gretchen Dolan (4) will miss the remainder of the season because of a right knee injury, the Illini announced Wednesday. | University of Illinois

The Illinois women's basketball team, which has been snake-bitten by injuries for the better part of two seasons now, will be without sophomore guard Gretchen Dolan for the remainder of the season after the program announced on Wednesday that she underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in her right knee and is out for the rest of 2025-26.

Gretchen Dolan will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus. pic.twitter.com/bzUsluzSr3

— Illinois Women's Basketball (@IlliniWBB) February 25, 2026

Dolan's absence leaves Illinois (19-8, 9-7 Big Ten) without one of its best players – and top backcourt scorers – for the stretch run of a season in which coach Shauna Green hoped to build on last year's NCAA Tournament first-round win – the program's first in 25 years.

Dolan hasn't appeared in a game since playing just four minutes in a 75-66 Illini win at Washington on Feb. 1, her first appearance after missing the previous four games because of the injury. She averaged 12.9 points and 3.4 rebounds in 18 games this season.

It's a particularly frustrating development for Dolan, a third-year player from Buffalo, New York, who received a medical hardship waiver last season because of a knee injury. She was limited to just eight games in 2025-25, averaging 10.5 points and 2.6 rebounds.

Dolan joins freshmen Erica Finney (knee) and Manuela Alves (knee) among the injured Illini. Finney and Alves were declared out for the season before it had even begun – the second year in a row the program was dealt blows by multiple season-ending injuries.