Behind the return of multi-year starter Bailey Cummins, the play of several key contributing hands in Sydney King, Hagen Schaefer, Natalie Zuchowski, Marnae Holland, and Leah Wingeier, and a strong incoming class of seven girls, the women's basketball program at Shawnee State was able to claim a No. 11 overall ranking in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll that was released on Wednesday morning by national officials.
The Bears, who claimed 148 points in the season-opening poll, trail 10th place Vanguard (Calif.) by just five points. SSU edged Central Methodist, who made the largest jump in the NAIA Division I Coaches Poll by moving from unranked to 12th overall, by three points. At the top of the poll, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)'s 217 points edged No. 2 Campbellsville's 207 points by 10 tallies while Oklahoma City, The Master's (Calif.) and Wayland Baptist (Texas) rounded out the top five.
