COLONIA, N.J. – The Mercy University Women's Basketball Team has been picked to finish second in the ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office earlier today. The top six teams at the end of the season qualify for the ECC Championship.
Daemen received seven first-place votes to top the poll with 79 points. Mercy received one first-place vote and 71 points to place second in the poll. Queens' Nkiru Awaka was named Preseason Player of the Year.
The Mavericks are picked second in the poll for the second straight year after going 22-8, winning a share of their first-ever ECC Regular Season Championship. Mercy advanced to the ECC Championship Final and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. The Mavericks finished with their most wins since 1985 and a program-record 15 ECC wins.
Two-time ECC Coach of the Year Scott Lagas returns 11 student-athletes from last year's team and adds six newcomers. Leading the returners is junior Morgan Miller who averaged 6.4 points per game last season. Junior Sophia Hoyt also returns after posting 4.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. Graduate student Kyla Nembach is back after dishing out 2.7 assists per game with 4.0 points per game and graduate student Molly Boek returns after recording 3.2 points per game last year.
Lagas and the Mavericks open their 2026-27 season on Friday, November 6th when they play an Exhibition at Division I Sacred Heart at 7 p.m.
