Moran Lonning starts her third season as UWL's head women's basketball coach in 2025-26.
The 2024-25 season saw UWL take a big jump ias they finished 17-12 overall and advanced to the Second Round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III National Championships. UWL finished 7-7 in the very competitive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), which had four teams advance to the NCAA III National Championships.
UWL earned it first bid (at-large) to the national tournament since the 2019-20 season. In the first round, UWL defeated Colorado College 79-52 for its first NCAA tournament win since 1988. UWL would then face conference foe UW-Whitewater in the second round where they fell 50-49. The 2024-25 season also included wins over nationally ranked UW-Stout (#15) and UW-Oshkosh (#5). The win over UW-Oshkosh was just the fourth win over a top five ranked opponent in school history.
Under Lonning's coaching, Lauryn Milne was named D3hoops.com Third Team All-Region and WIAC First Team All-Conference. Milne finished her Eagle career as just the 18th player in school history to surpass the 1,000 point milestone (1,215 points, sixth all-time) and is one of only three Eagles to score more than 1200 points and grab more than 500 rebounds (539).
Also earning WIAC accolades was Kailee Meeker (Honorable Mention All-Conference) and Ali Sprangers (WIAC All-Sportsmanship Team).
The Eagles finished 13-14 overall and 5-9 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in 2023-24, advancing to the tournament semifinals after a first round victory over UW-Platteville. Milne was named to the 2023-24 All-WIAC First Team while Meeker earned all-conference honorable mention accolades. Katie Waukau was selected the WIAC Newcomer of the Year.
Born in La Crosse, Lonning served as head coach at Central College (Iowa) in 2022-23. Along her coaching responsibilities with the Dutch, Lonning developed and administrated youth camps as well as overseeing the team's social media accounts. She was the Central (Iowa) Athletics Representative for the Building A Culture of Inclusion on campus.
"I am coming home," said Lonning. "The university and community have always held a special place in my heart, and I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to lead the women's basketball program. I am committed to developing our players not only as athletes but as strong, confident women with high character."
She returns to La Crosse following the path of her late father, Greg Lonning, who served as UWL's head wrestling coach from 1992-98. He compiled a dual record of 77-19, leading the Eagles to their first WIAC title in school history in 1993 while also capturing the crown in 1998. Named the 1993-94 WIAC Coach of the Year, Lonning coached 19 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III All-Americas at UWL. He was an assistant coach for three years at UWL before being named head coach. He coached at Central (Iowa) for five years, serving as an assistant coach for two years before becoming head coach in 1986-87.
Moran's brother, Connor Lonning, was a member of the UWL cross country and track & field teams from 2006-10. He earned three All-WIAC First Team honors in cross country, placing fourth in 2007 and 2008 and fifth in 2009.
Prior to arriving at Central (Iowa), Lonning served as an assistant coach at Simpson College (Iowa) from 2016-22, helping the Storm win two American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) titles. Lonning coordinated recruiting for prospective student-athletes as well as creating scouting reports. She managed the Storm's social media accounts and created and instructed at basketball camps.
She served as the Simpson (Iowa) Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) Co-Leadership Officer for six years. Lonning was the A-R-C Athletics Diversity Inclusion Designee for Central (Iowa) and Simpson (Iowa) the last two seasons.
"It is the people that make the experience," said Lonning. "I have been blessed with some amazing people that have helped mold me into the person I am today. But my biggest influence has been and continues to be my dad. I'm grateful to be back in La Crosse with my family, and excited to learn and grow with the people of the UWL community."
Lonning earned her bachelor's degree in arts, health promotion from Luther College (Iowa) in 2016 where she earned a pair of letters in basketball for the Norse. She was a two-time Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Most Valuable Player at Luther (Iowa) in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Lonning was also selected the 2014-15 conference co-defensive player of the year. Named to the 2015-16 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and D3hoops.com Honorable Mention All-America Team, Lonning was the Norse' team captain her senior season.
Luther (Iowa) won the 2015 IIAC Tournament title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Championships. The Norse also won the regular-season league title in 2016. She was a walk-on at the University of Northern Iowa for three years, playing 23 games in 2013-14 before transferring to Luther (Iowa).
She is currently pursuing her Masters of Arts in Teaching, Leadership and Cultural Competency from the University of Iowa.
