Women's Hoops Ninth in GAC Preseason Poll

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern women's basketball will enter the 2024-25 season as underdogs after finishing ninth in the Great American Conference Preseason Poll released on Wednesday.
 
The Savage Storm picked up 43 points in the poll which is voted on by the league's head coaches, finishing ahead of Arkansas-Monticello in 10^th and just behind Ouachita Baptist in eighth.
 
Harding was the preseason favorite with seven first-place votes, followed by Southern Nazarene in second with four first-place nods.
 
Southwestern Oklahoma State ranked third, followed by Oklahoma Baptist and Arkansas Tech, with ATU picking up the remaining first-place vote.
 
Henderson State and Northwestern Oklahoma State ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, while Southern Arkansas and East Central round out the poll in 11^th and 12^th.
 
SE returns its top three scorers form a season ago and the five players with the most starts last season.
 
That group is led by returning All-GAC player Caitlin Kobiske who is already a 1,000-point scorer for the Storm and put up 14.6 ppg while pulling down 5.9 rebounds per outing.
 
She is joined by Holli Lindley and Ashton Hackler who each started 24-or-more games a year ago, with Lindley averaging 8.9 ppg and 7.0 rebounds, while Hackler added 8.1 per game offensively and 3.1 on the glass.
 
That trio is joined by a pair of sophomore who started 15 games each last season in Kenzli Warden and Eryn Dolan, while also returning Brianna Wietelman and Abbie Barr who saw starts last season.
 
SE also welcomes five new additions, two of them coming in as junior transfers in Stevie Stinchcomb and Kaydrin Scott, while Brenna Howard, Mackenzie Espinosa, and Akiera Hawk all enter as new freshmen.
 
Southeastern will open the 2024-25 season at the Central Region Challenge in Alva, Okla, first squaring off with Minnesota-Duluth at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8 before facing Winona State on Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m.
 
The Storm will open its home schedule the following week on Nov. 13 when it hosts Northeastern State at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.