GLIAC Preseason Coaches Poll and Overview
The Davenport women's basketball team welcomes first-year head coach Shonda Sanders to turn around a program that has not had a winning season since joining the ranks of NCAA Division II and the GLIAC in 2017-18. Sanders inherits a team that was picked ninth in the preseason coaches poll and returns eight letterwinners. The key will be to mesh those returners with 10 newcomers on the squad.
The team's leading scorer last season,
Toni Grace, transferred for her graduate season to Alabama A&M leaving behind 12.4 points per game in 2021-22 and 1,394 points in her career. Grace led the team in scoring in each of the last two seasons. Her backcourt mate, senior
Scout Nelson, is back with 76 career games played and 74 starts to her credit. Nelson was asked to increase her offensive production as a junior and went from 155 shots as a sophomore to 246 as a junior. She averaged 8.7 points per game in 2021-22 and dished out 89 assists.
Sophomore
Lillee Gustafson returns in the frontcourt after playing and starting in 28 games as a freshman. She averaged 23.8 minutes per game and has been working on finishing around the basket after shooting 38.3 percent from the floor. Gustafson averaged 6.0 points per game and was one of the best rebounders in the league averaging 7.9 boards per game to rank third.
Seniors
Ryan Harvey,
Emily Lange and
Ajai Simmons join Nelson to round out a four-player senior class. Harvey played in 26 games last season and averaged 2.9 points per game. Lange has played in 72 career games with 16 starts but saw her minutes decrease from 23.9 as a sophomore to 13.3 as a junior. She has scored 344 career points and pulled down 200 career rebounds. Simmons joined the team in 2021-22 and played 28 games with 12 starts. She averaged 20.3 minutes, 6.9 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.
2022-23 GLIAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
| 1. Grand Valley State |
81 (9) |
| 2. Ferris State |
72 (1) |
| 3. Michigan Tech |
59 |
| 4. Saginaw Valley State |
52 |
| 5. Parkside |
50 |
| 6. Wayne State |
44 |
| 7. Northern Michigan |
38 |
| 8. Purdue Northwest |
28 |
| 9. Davenport |
14 |
| 10. Lake Superior State |
12 |
