Following a run to the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship game, the Maryville women's basketball team was picked to finish second in the league for the 2025-26 season, the conference office announced Tuesday. The preseason poll is selected by the league's head coaches, who, per GLVC bylaws, are not permitted to vote for their own teams. The Saints went 16-15 and 12-8 in the GLVC a year ago.

Leading the returning players is reigning GLVC Freshman of the Year and second-team All-GLVC selection Lindsey Schadewalt. The sophomore shooting guard averaged a team-high 12.3 points per game last season while shooting .381 from 3-point range and .896 at the free-throw line. Schadewalt added 3.0 rebounds to go along with 27 assists. Also back for the Saints are redshirt sophomore guard Adylan Ayer (8.1 points and 3.0 rebounds) and junior guard Annika Pluemer (7.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 49 assists and 35 steals.) The Saints have added six new faces to the roster, including three freshmen and three transfers.

The Saints begin exhibition action Tuesday, Oct. 28, with a game at Missouri, followed by a tilt at Illinois Thursday, Oct. 30. The regular season starts Friday, Nov. 14, at Parkside, and the home opener is Tuesday, Nov. 18, against Hannibal-LaGrange. The complete preseason poll is listed below.

2025-26 GLVC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL 

Place	School	Points (1st-Place Votes)
1	Drury	191 (10)
2	Maryville	165
3	Lewis	163 (4)
4	Missouri-St. Louis	158
5	Missouri S&T	141 (1)
6	McKendree	135
7	Truman State	108
8	Upper Iowa	101
9	Rockhurst	85
10	Quincy	84
11	Indianapolis	83
12	Illinois Springfield	60
13	Southwest Baptist	55
14	William Jewell	24
15	Lincoln	22