Central Islip, N.Y. – On the heels of two straight East Coast Conference Championships, the women's basketball team at Queens was an unanimous pick to make it three straight titles in the league's preseason poll as voted on by the conference's head coaches. Queens senior guard/forward, Madison Rowland (Albany, N.Y.) was selected by the coaches as the Preseason Player of the Year for the second straight season.
Queens continued their recent run of excellence in 2015-16, winning the ECC Championship for the second straight year. The Knights received all 10 first place votes to top the poll with 100 points. Queens, who is also ranked No.. 14 in the Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25 poll, has seven players back from last year's roster that finished 21-9 including All-Conference First Team honorees, MacKenzie and Madison Rowland.
Rowland heads in to her senior season as arguably one of the top players to ever grace ECC gymnasiums. In three seasons, she already ranks in the top-10 in the conference's career records for steals and field goals made, sits just outside the top-10 in points scored, and is on pace to become the league's all-time leader in all three categories. Last season, Rowland earned her third straight All-Conference First Team selection as well as Division II Bulletin and DIICCA All-America recognition, after leading the ECC with 20.8 points per game. It was her third straight season averaging over 20 PPG and the second time in three seasons that she led the league in scoring. Rowland also continued to show an all-around game, pulling down 9.6 rebounds per game, dishing off 3.8 assists per game, in addition to leading the ECC and all of Division II for the third straight year with 4.36 steals per game.
NYIT, who was last year's regular season champion and advanced to the NCAA Division II East Region Final, was the runner-up in the poll with 83 points. The top-three is rounded out with Roberts Wesleyan, fresh off advancing to the final of the ECC Championship for the first time in program history.
2016-17 ECC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
| Team | Pts. | Last Year's Record |
| 1. Queens (10) | 100 | 21-9 (15-5 ECC) |
| 2. NYIT | 83 | 26-9 (18-2 ECC) |
| 3. Roberts Wesleyan | 72 | 29-7 (14-6 ECC) |
| 4. St. Thomas Aquinas | 63 | 18-11 (11-9 ECC) |
| 5. Bridgeport | 52 | 10-18 (8-12 ECC) |
| 6. LIU Post | 50 | 5-23 (5-15 ECC) |
| 7. Molloy | 45 | 12-17 (11-9 ECC) |
| 8. District of Columbia | 43 | 21-9 (15-5 ECC) |
| 9. Daemen | 31 | 9-17 (7-13 ECC) |
| 10. Mercy | 11 | 6-22 (3-17 ECC) |
Preseason Player of the Year - Madison Rowland, Queens (5-10, Sr., G/F, Albany, N.Y.)
