COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference on Thursday afternoon released its 2025-26 Preseason Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll, an announcement that shows Western Colorado in fourth place with 150 points.

The Mountaineers, with two second-place and four third-place votes, were nine points behind third-place Adams State and nine points ahead of Colorado School of Mines.

Last year's regular season RMAC champion, Colorado Mesa University, topped the poll with 191 points and 9 of 15 first-place votes, ahead of UC Colorado Springs, last season's RMAC tournament champion, which earned the other 6 first-place votes, 4 second-place votes and 3 third-place votes for a total of 181 points. Coaches are not permitted to vote for their own team.

Western finished second in the 2024-25 final standings with a 15-5 league mark, earning  first-round hosting duties for the conference tournament, a game in which they advanced to the semifinals with a 67-51 defeat of Regis University. Its semifinal appearance was the first since the 2020-21 RMAC postseason.

The Mountaineers' 21-8 overall record was the fourth 20+ win season in program history, and second in wins only to the 22-7 record by the 1986-87 squad.

Heading into the 2025-26 campaign Western must replace three players who started at least 28 of 29 games, including first-team All-RMAC center Rachel Cockman – now playing professionally in the first division of Portuguese women's basketball.

However, key returners for the season include first-team All-RMAC guard Ivey Schmidt, honorable mention all-conference guard Jayda Maves, and three players – Chloe Daniels, Alyssa Eckroth and Penelope Urquhart – who played in all 29 games and combined to average more than 14 minutes a game last season.

Three other returners are joined by four freshmen and four transfers to fill out the roster of 16 players for head coach Adam Jacobson, who is entering his fourth season leading the Mountaineer program.

Western's 2025-26 schedule begins October 27 with an exhibition game at the University of Utah.