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The Women’s Other Top 25: Fairfield is unanimous No. 1
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- The Women’s Other Top 25: Fairfield is unanimous No. 1
The new college basketball season begins next week, and our Women's Other Top 25 preseason poll is here. Fairfield is the No. 1 team, followed by Princeton, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Columbia to round out the top five.
The Stags have won the last three championships in the MAAC (now Metro) and bring back several top players, including each of their top four scorers. Kaety L'Amoreaux won the Player of the Year award after averaging 17.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. Meghan Anderson posted 16.1 points, 4.7 boards, and one block while shooting 40% from deep. Jillian Huerter chipped in 9.3 points and 2.5 assists, and Cyanne Coe added 8.9 points and 5.8 rebounds.
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Fairfield, which has gone 102-27 under Carly Thibault-DuDonis, plays its final year in the Metro before departing for the CAA this year. The Stags have a tough non-conference slate against Vermont, Seton Hall, Villanova, Oregon, North Dakota State, BYU, and Columbia.
Princeton, who is No. 2 in our preseason poll, went to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons of Carla Berube's six-year tenure, but she left for Northwestern. Lauren Gosselin ascended to the head coach position after serving as an assistant under Berube.
While Madison St. Rose is no longer with the Tigers, they return three of their top four scorers. Fadima Tall (13 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Sky Belker (12.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.7 apg), and Olivia Hutcherson (11 ppg, 5.6 rpg) are all back.
The reigning Ivy League champs have a loaded non-conference with games against Belmont, Richmond, Villanova, UCLA, George Mason, Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Rhode Island.
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The top two teams in the Summit League: North Dakota State and South Dakota State tied for third in the preseason poll.
The Bison won their first conference regular-season championship last season and bring back nearly their entire nucleus.
Reigning Summit Player of the Year Avery Koenen averaged 19.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game. She was the only player in the country to average 19 points and 10 boards while shooting 63% or better from the field. Marisa Frost contributed 12.7 points and 1.5 steals. Karrington Asp was the freshman and sixth player of the year with averages of 10.9 points and 4.8 boards. Jocelyn Schiller added 10.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists for Jory Collins.
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The Jackrabbits will look different as they look to extend their streak of four straight tournament championships. Brooklyn Meyer and Maddie Mathiowetz graduated. However, Aaron Johnston never misses a beat, as the Jacks have played in 14 of the last 17 NCAA Tournaments.
Emilee Fox led the nation last year in 3-point shooting by knocking down 49% from deep. She averaged 8.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. Katie Vasecka is back as well after posting 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and two assists before suffering a season-ending injury. Hadley Thul stepped up during Vasecka's absence by contributing 8.6 points, 4.1 boards, and 2.3 assists as a starter.
Columbia comes in at No. 5 and is the second Ivy League team in the top five. The Lions have put together an incredible three-year run under Megan Griffith. They went to the program's first two NCAA Tournaments in 2024 and 2025. They just missed the Big Dance last season but fueled that into a WBIT championship.
Riley Weiss returns after a banner year in which she won the Ivy League Player of the Year, MET Basketball Writers Association Player of the Year and WBIT Most Outstanding Player. She averaged 20.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals a game. Mia Broom is also back after tallying 8.2 points, 3.2 boards and 2.8 assists.
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The Lions face Davidson, Belmont, Michigan, Maryland, Duke, Stanford, Villanova, Fairfield and Saint Joseph's in the non-conference.
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Montana State comes in at No. 6. The Bobcats have gone 33-3 in the Big Sky and 57-12 overall the last two seasons. They have their top seven scorers back from last year, headlined by Taylee Chirrick, who was the Big Sky player and defensive player of the year last year. She averaged 17.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 4.1 steals a night. Addison Harris was also in double figures with 14.1 points and 4.1 rebounds a game. Jamison Phillip added 8.1 points.
Murray State followed at No. 7. The Racers won the Missouri Valley with a 19-1 conference and 31-4 overall record. They have their top four scorers back: Halli Poock (22.5 ppg, 4.3 apg), Sharnecce Currie-Jelks (17.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg), Haven Ford (17 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.7 apg) and Keslyn Secrist (13 ppg, 6.4 rpg).
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James Madison and Ball State tied for eighth. The Dukes were tabbed as the preseason favorites in the Sun Belt with a trio of notable returners in Bree Robinson (11.9 ppg, 3.2 apg, 2.3 spg), Zakiya Stephenson (7.9, 4.1 apg) and Grace McDonough (6.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 63% field-goal percentage). The Cardinals bring back five of their top six scorers. Tessa Towers leads the group with 14.7 points and 8.4 rebounds a game last season. Grace Kingery added 13.4 points, and Karsyn Norman contributed 9.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists.
Santa Clara rounded out the top 10. The Broncos were named the preseason favorites in the West Coast Conference for the first time since 1999. Loree Payne guided the team to a program-record 24 wins last season thanks to averaging 80 points per game. SC returns 80% of that scoring, led by Maia Jones (15 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.6 spg), Ava Schmidt (13.4 ppg, five rpg, 2.2 bpg), Sophie Glancey (14.6 ppg, seven rpg in 18 games), and Kylee Fox (9.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg).
Women's Other Top 25 Full Ranking
| Ranking |
Team |
Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Fairfield (2) |
50 |
| 2 |
Princeton |
44 |
| T-3 |
South Dakota St. |
43 |
| T-3 |
North Dakota St. |
43 |
| 5 |
Columbia |
40 |
| 6 |
Montana St. |
36 |
| 7 |
Murray St. |
33 |
| T-8 |
James Madison |
31 |
| T-8 |
Ball St. |
31 |
| 10 |
Santa Clara |
25 |
| 11 |
Green Bay |
23 |
| T-12 |
San Diego St. |
20 |
| T-12 |
Miami OH |
20 |
| 14 |
Louisiana Tech |
19 |
| 15 |
Harvard |
18 |
| 16 |
Rice |
16 |
| 17 |
Charleston |
15 |
| 18 |
Troy |
14 |
| 19 |
Idaho |
13 |
| 20 |
Missouri St. |
12 |
| T-21 |
George Mason |
11 |
| T-21 |
High Point |
11 |
| 23 |
Arkansas St. |
10 |
| T-24 |
Quinnipiac |
9 |
| T-24 |
Furman |
9 |
Others receiving votes:Saint Joseph's 8; Georgia Southern 7; Oregon St. 7; Army 6; Navy 5; Loyola Marymount 5; UC Irvine 4; Howard 3; Portland 3; McNeese St. 2; Vermont 2; UC San Diego 1; Florida Gulf Coast 1
