EVANSVILLE, Ind. – SIUE women's basketball has been picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll, the league announced Thursday.
The Cougars received 113 points and four first-place selections, voted on by OVC head coaches and athletic communications personnel. Returning All-OVC selections
Kiyoko Proctor and
Lauren Miller headline the SIUE women's squad, each coming off historic seasons of their own.
Proctor became the first player in SIUE history to earn OVC Freshman of the Year honors after leading the team with 13.4 points per game. Miller averaged 12.4 points per contest and became the first player in program history to earn OVC Freshman of the Week recognition five times.
SIUE also welcomes four transfers to the roster, including juniors
Pryelle Kesse-Beda,
Giselle Dogan, and
Riley Abney, along with senior
Tyra Robinson.
A 6-foot-1 forward, Kesse-Beda arrives after two seasons at Division III St. Thomas College, where she averaged 15.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game as a sophomore.
Dogan, a 5-foot-7 guard, joins the Cougars from Jessup University after averaging 13.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game over two seasons. She also shot better than 37 percent from three-point range during her career, including 45.5% as a freshman.
Abney comes to SIUE from Schoolcraft College after beginning her collegiate career at Oakland University. The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 12.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game last season while shooting 34.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Robinson, the lone senior transfer for the Cougars, spent the past two seasons at Missouri State, where she averaged 2.6 points and 1.1 rebounds per contest while shooting 60 percent from the field.
The second-place prediction comes just one year after SIUE was selected to finish last in the 2025-26 OVC Preseason Poll. The Cougars ultimately exceeded those expectations, finishing four spots higher in conference standings to end the season.
The SIUE women's basketball team will take the floor for the first time Tuesday, Oct. 20 for a 6:00 p.m. exhibition match against Saint Louis.
