NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Massachusetts has been unanimously voted to repeat as Atlantic 10 Conference Women’s Basketball champions in the league’s annual Preseason Poll. The A-10 announced the poll along with the Preseason All-Conference awards Tuesday during the league’s Media Day. The Preseason Poll and Preseason All-Conference Awards are chosen by the league's head coaches.
First-time A-10 champions in 2022, the Minutewomen return the league's reigning Player of the Year and the Championship’s Most Outstanding Player in forward Sam Breen along with guard Sydney Taylor and guard Destiney Philoxy, all Preseason All-Conference selections. UMass received all 15 first-place votes for 225 poll points. The Minutewomen were 11-4 in league play last year, finishing in third place, and closed out the season at 26-7 with an NCAA Tournament bid, their first since 1998.
La Salle was chosen second in the poll with 188 points. The Explorers were 10-6 last year in league play and 17-12 overall, surging late to win four straight at the end of the regular season. La Salle brings back guard/forward Kayla Spruill and guard Claire Jacobs, both of whom earned Preseason All-Conference nods.
Rhode Island checks in at third with 184 points and will rely on Preseason All-Conference forward Emma Squires and center Tenin Magassa, transfers from Richmond and Dayton, respectively. Rhody closed out the last year 22-7 overall, earning a WNIT bid, and placed second in the A-10 at 12-2. Perennial power Fordham finished just one point behind URI with 183 points, good for fourth. The Rams return the services of A-10 leading scorer Anna DeWolfe (17.8 points per game) along with Asiah Dingle, both of who were preseason honorees. Fordham was 18-11 overall last year and 8-6 in conference games, earning a WNIT bid to wrap up the year.
VCU brings back Preseason All-Conference First Team guard Sarah Te-Biasu and was picked fifth in the poll with 152 points. The Rams were a WNIT participant last year as well, and finished 9-5 in the A-10 and 16-12 overall.
Saint Joseph’s was picked sixth with 140 points and garnered two preseason honorees in Katie Jekot and Talya Brugler, the returning A-10 Rookie of the Year. Davidson ranked seventh via 135 points with star forward Elle Sutphin earning a spot on the preseason awards team. Richmond’s Addie Budnik was named to the preseason first team and leads the eighth-place Spiders, who tallied 125 points. Duquesne slotted in at ninth with 109 points and two preseason selections in Tess Myers and Megan McConnell. Defending regular-season champion Dayton finished 10th with 99 points while George Washington earned 11th in the poll with 82 points along with one preseason all-conference and all-defensive nod in stud forward Mayowa Taiwo.
Saint Louis (73 points) secured 12th while league newcomer Loyola Chicago (41) was picked 13th. George Mason and St. Bonaventure concluded the poll.
DeWolfe, Spruill, Breen, Taylor, Budnik and Te-Biasu comprised the six-member Preseason All-Conference First Team while Sutphin, Dingle, Jacobs, Philoxy, Jekot and Saint Louis’ Brooke Flowers were named to the Preseason Second Team.
The Preseason Third Team was Myers, Taiwo, Magassa, Squires, Brugler and SLU’s Kyla McMakin while the Preseason All-Defensive Team rounded out the honors with McConnell, Dingle, Taiwo, Philoxy and Flowers.
The 2022-23 women’s basketball campaign tips off on Nov. 7. The season will culminate with the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship, which returns to CHASE Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., from March 1-5, 2023.