BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University's women's basketball team was picked to finish four in the annual 15-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Thursday.
 
Minnesota Duluth was chosen as the unanimous preseason favorite earning 196 points, with 14 first-place votes (coaches can't vote for their own team). Minnesota State was selected second with 165 points (one first-place vote), followed by UMary (162), SMSU (140) and St. Cloud State (133).
 
Augustana (128) was picked to finish sixth followed by Concordia-St. Paul (127), Sioux Falls (100), MSU Moorhead (94) and Wayne State (87) and Northern State (87) closing out the top 10. Winona State was chosen 12th (58), followed by Minnesota Crookston (40), Bemidji State (30) and Minot State (28).
 
Minnesota State senior guard Joey Batt was selected as the NSIC Preseason Player of the Year.
 
The NSIC regular season championship will be based on a 22-game conference schedule. Each team will play eight teams twice and another six teams once. An NSIC champion will be awarded to the team with the highest win percentage in the 22 games played.  
 
The 12-team NSIC Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games are set to take place March 2-5 at the Sanford Health Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The top four seeds will receive a first-round bye. First round games will be played on campus on Feb. 28.
 
SMSU is coming off a 19-11 season and a third-place finish in the NSIC South Division with a 14-8 league mark. The 19 victories are the highest in program history since the 2004-05 season, while the Mustangs advanced to the NSIC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2003.
 
The Mustangs return 10 letter winners and four starters from last season's team.
 
SMSU guard Sam Wall is one of two seniors on the team and was named a 'Player to Watch' in the NSIC this season. Wall, a native of Delhi, Iowa, was named All-NSIC second team last season after starting all 30 games and averaging a team-high 13.9 points per game with a program single-season record 77 3-pointers. The 77 3-pointers ranked 24th in Division II, while her 41.8 3-point field goal pct. ranked 18^th nationally. Wall shot 88 percent (61 of 69) from the free throw line—ranking seventh in team single-season history, while scoring double figures in 22 games, including five 20-point games. She ranks sixth in team history with 163 3-pointers and seventh in free throw pct. (81.3).  
 
"Sam had an outstanding junior season," said Tom Webb, SMSU head coach. "She led the NSIC in made 3-point field goals and 3-point field goal percentage. Sam has worked extremely hard to continue to improve her game every year."
 
SMSU's other senior is guard Madison Gehloff, who started all 30 game a season ago and averaged 8.8 ppg and made 21 3-pointers. Junior guard Bri Stoltzman earned All-NSIC second team honors last season after ranking second on the team in scoring at 13.8 ppg, while leading the team with 6.9 rebounds per game. She also finished shooting a team-high 55.2 percent from the field ranking third in team history and 22^nd in Division II. She was also second in both assists (78) and steals (56). Junior guard Hannah Parsley is another returning starter after scoring 11.7 ppg and leading the team with 59 steals and ranking second in rebounding at 5.6 per game.
 
Junior guard Peyton Blandin played in 30 games last season with one start and averaged 7.6 ppg, while ranking third on the team with 37 3-pointers. Junior forward Kenzie Jones appeared in 21 games and averaged 2.8 ppg and 2.0 rpg. Four sophomores, forward Maddie Thorfinnson, guard Zoie Centers, center Audrey Swanson and center Kennadi Buchholz all played more than half the games last season in gaining valuable experience.
 
"It's been fun to watch the competitive spirit this group has." Webb said. "From the first day of skill-work this group has demonstrated a strong desire to improve daily."
 
The 2023-24 roster also includes true freshmen guard Brynn Busse, forward Brylee Iverson, guard Allison Milbrandt, forward Christina Wagner and forward Elizabeth Wagner.
 
Webb is in his eighth season as head coach and has compiled a record of 77-102. After improving the program's win total in each of his first four seasons, he has led SMSU to a .500 record or better the last four seasons.
 
SMSU opens the regular season on Nov. 10-11 hosting the NSIC/MIAA Challenge with the Mustangs taking on Northwest Missouri State and Nebraska-Kearney. The games are two of 15 home games this season.