Indianapolis – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team has been picked to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Preseason Poll, as announced by the league office on Friday morning. The annual GLVC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll was voted on by the league head coaches and rank all 15 teams in predicted order of finish.
Maryville, the defending conference champion, was selected as the favorite to repeat with 186 points edging out the Tritons by three points. The Saints and UMSL each received six first-place votes in the poll. Drury was tabbed to finish third with 171 points and two first-place votes followed by McKendree in fourth with 141 points while Lewis and Truman were tied for fifth with 130 points.
Rounding out the top 10 were Quincy (114 points), Upper Iowa (107 points), Illinois Springfield (98 points) and Missouri S&T (90) points and the final first-place vote.
The top eight teams earn a berth to the GLVC Basketball Championship Tournament which will be held March 4 – 7 at Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo.
Under 15th-year head coach
Katie Vaughn, the Tritons are coming off a school record 25-win season which included an 18-2 record in league play, a GLVC regular season title, the program's first appearance in a conference tournament final, the team's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and the program's first NCAA Tournament win.
UMSL returns nine players from last year's squad including Second Team All-American and GLVC Player of the Year
Mara Rieder and GLVC Freshman of the Year
Jayden Kuper. Rieder led the conference in scoring and rebounding a season ago with 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game with 68 blocks and 24 steals. Kuper averaged 14.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and led the team with 64 steals and was second with 86 assists. Also returning are guards
Lexi Hanna and
Jaeda Wilson.
Hanna was second on the team in three-point shooting with 47 made three's and connected on 34.3 percent of her attempts. Wilson averaged 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest along with 22 assists and 16 steals.
The Tritons begin the 2026-27 season on Monday (Nov. 9) against Central Missouri at 6 p.m. at the Jerry M. Hughes Athletic Center in Warrensburg, Mo. UMSL's home opener will be on Friday (Nov. 13) against Roosevelt at 1 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.
2026-27 GLVC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Maryville 186 (6)
2. Missouri-St. Louis 183 (6)
3. Drury 171 (2)
4. McKendree 141
5. Lewis 130
5. Truman 130
7. Quincy 114
8. Upper Iowa 107
9. Illinois Springfield 98
10. Missouri S&T 90 (1)
11. Southwest Baptist 60
12. Uindy 54
13. Rockhurst 50
14. Lincoln 37
15. William Jewell 23
