LOCK HAVEN, Pa.- The West Chester University women's basketball team was ranked fifth in the PSAC East Preseason Coaches Poll, as released by the league office Thursday afternoon.
West Chester started the 2025-26 season strong, winning six of eight Division II games in the first half of the season, but a young team, which included as many as four freshmen in the starting five at times last winter, sputtered down the stretch, finishing the season at 11-16 overall and 7-14 in league action to narrowly miss a return to the PSAC Tournament, finishing seventh in the PSAC East standings.
This large freshman class from a season ago returns intact for West Chester in 2026-27 as the team returns over 80 % (1,346 of 1,672) of its points from last year, led by
Lena Stein (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley), who is the leading returning scorer after averaging 10 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in her rookie season. Fellow sophomore
Macie McCracken (North Wildwood, N.J./Wildwood) also returns in 2026-27 after averaging 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in her rookie season.
Head coach
Kiera Wooden remains at the helm of the Golden Rams, entering her 13
th season as the head coach with a career record of 186-135 and is joined by longtime assistant coach
Allison Hostetter, who was elevated to Associate Head Coach earlier this fall.
East Stroudsburg is the preseason favorite with three first-place votes, followed by Kutztown in second with three first-place votes of its own and Millersville in third with a pair of first-place votes as longtime Lock Haven coach Jennifer Smith assumes control of the Marauders for the 2026-27 season. Bloomsburg and West Chester rounded out the top five, while Shepherd, Shippensburg, and Mansfield finish out the PSAC East. Perennial powers IUP and Gannon have the top two spots in the PSAC West preseason poll with seven and two first-place votes, respectively. Edinboro, California, and Lock Haven rounded out the top five.
West Chester will open its season at home on November 13 against Salem beginning at 2 p.m. before heading to Millersville on Saturday the 14
th to take on Charleston (W.V.) as the Golden Rams and Marauders co-host the opening weekend Tournament. West Chester will open PSAC Crossover play on December 4
th and 5
th with visits to Slippery Rock and Gannon before playing its last three games of 2026 in Hollinger against IUP, Seton Hill, and Holy Family on December 19, 20, and 30
th, respectively. West Chester will open 2027 with home games against California on January 2 and Bloomsburg on January 6.
