GORHAM, Maine – Receiving eight first-place votes, the University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's basketball team has been picked to finish first in the 2025-2026 Little East Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. Rhode Island College finished with 53 points and one first-place vote, followed by Keene State with 47 points in third, and UMass Dartmouth with 41 points in fourth.
Led by veteran head coach
David Chadbourne, now in his third season with the Huskies, the 2025-2026 Huskies return a majority of its starting lineup from a season ago in which Southern Maine advanced to the Little East Conference championship game for a conference-record 27
th time. Southern Maine finished the season 18-10 and 12-4 in Little East Conference action.
Among the key returners are sophomores
Lucy Wiles (Glenburn, Maine/Hampden Academy) and
Dakota Shipley (Bath, Maine/Brunswick) and graduate student
Liz Cote (Conway, NH/Kennett). Cote finished as the Huskies' second leading scorer and as one of the top three-point shooters in the Little East Conference, earning second team all-conference accolades averaging 10.7 point per game while shooting 40.3 percent (73-for-181) from three.
The Huskies' third-leading scorer, averaging 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, Shipley scored in double-figures in 11 games, and had a season-high 22 points in a 74-68 win over UMass Dartmouth (2/15/25). In a quarterfinal win over Rhode Island College, the Huskies' forward had a double-double with 14 points and a career-best 19 rebounds.
Wiles, the 2025 Little East Conference, Maine Women's Basketball Coaches Association, and d3hoops.com Region 2, and New England Women's Basketball Association Rookie of the Year, averaged a team-leading 13.0 points and 3.0 assists per game while adding 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. She scored a career-high 29 points against Rhode Island College in the semifinals of the LEC tournament helping USM earn a 71-57 win.
The Huskies start their 2025-2026 at home on Tuesday, November 12 (5:30 pm) against University of New England. Southern Maine's first Little East Conference game is an away contest at UMass Boston on Wednesday, December 3 (5:30 pm).
| 2025-2026 Little East Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll (FPV) |
| 1. |
Southern Maine |
64 points |
(8) |
| 2. |
Rhode Island College |
53 points |
(1) |
| 3. |
Keene State |
47 points |
|
| 4 |
UMass Dartmouth |
41 points |
|
| T5. |
UMass Boston |
31 points |
|
| T5. |
Western Connecticut |
31 points |
|
| 7. |
Eastern Connecticut |
30 points |
|
| 8. |
Plymouth State |
19 points |
|
| 9. |
VTSU Castleton |
8 points |
|
-cac-
