Cecilia Russell-Nava

Biography

Cecilia Russell-Nava is in her 10th year with the UC Irvine women’s basketball program, and sixth as an associate head coach in 2025-26. Russell-Nava has been instrumental to UCI's success over the last nine seasons. Last year, she helped the Anteaters to their fourth-straight 20-win campaign. They finished the season at 21-10 overall and 15-5 in the Big West (2nd). UC Irvine also advanced to the Big West semifinals, and closed out the campaign ranked 10th in the nation in scoring defense (54.3 ppg). In 2023-24, the 'Eaters won the Big West Championship for the second time in program history, and earned a No. 13 seed in their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 29 years. UCI went 23-9 overall (16-4 Big West), and was ranked in the final College Insider Women’s Mid-Major Poll (23rd). The Anteaters were also among the nation’s best in scoring defense (14th, 55.7 ppg). Russell-Nava worked closely with Déja Lee, who was the first Anteater to be named the Big West Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, and with Diaba Konate, who was tabbed the conference’s Best Defensive Player. In 2022-23, the ‘Eaters made history, winning the program's first Big West regular season championship and earning the program's first postseason victory with an opening-round win in the WNIT. They finished the campaign at 25-7 (16-2 Big West), setting school records in overall and conference wins. They were also ranked 23rd in the final College Insider Women’s Mid-Major Poll. In addition, Russell-Nava pla