West Babylon, N.Y. – St. Thomas Aquinas squeaked by Daemen to take first place in the East Coast Conference women’s basketball preseason poll released on Thursday afternoon. The league’s Preseason Player of the Year honor was also announced with Mercy senior guard Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) earning the honor.
Despite having two first place votes to Daemen’s five, St. Thomas Aquinas finished first in the poll by one point, 72-71. The Spartans finished last season hot, winning 13 of their final 18 games after a 1-9 start, to end up as the No. 3 seed in the ECC Championship. Seven of the top nine scorers are back for another go around, including All-Conference honoree Alexa Huertas and the reigning ECC Rookie of the Year, Sarah Ericson.
Daemen comes off a season in which they won a second ECC Championship in three seasons and advanced to the final of the NCAA East Regional. Gone are top scorers Katie Titus and Tiara Filbert, but starters Mickayla Ivy, Alahna Paige, and Kaitlyn Matz are back. They are also joined by Division I transfers Julia Hauer and Paige Emborsky among seven newcomers, leaving plenty of talent on the roster to defend their conference title.
University of the District of Columbia comes in at No. 3 in the poll and also received a first place vote. The Firebirds finished last season with their first appearance in the ECC Championship since the 2016 season.
Mercy comes in fourth after ending an even longer playoff drought that dated back to 2009 behind the play of Wall. A two-time All-Conference honoree, Wall had her best season yet in 2021-22. She stuffed the stat sheet with 16.0 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game, 4.4 assists per game, and 2.4 steals per game. Wall ranked fourth in the league in scoring and finished second in assists per game, total assists (118), steals per game, and total steals (66).
Molloy and Roberts Wesleyan tied for fifth in the poll to round out the teams expected to make the ECC Championship. Queens, who earned the final first place vote, comes in at No. 7 and is followed by Staten Island and D’Youville to round out the poll.
2022-2023 ECC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
| Team | Pts. | Last Year's Record |
| 1. St. Thomas Aquinas (2) | 72 | 14-15 (12-6 ECC) |
| 2. Daemen (5) | 71 | 22-5 (16-1 ECC) |
| 3. District of Columbia (1) | 52 | 13-15 (9-9 ECC) |
| 4. Mercy | 50 | 11-16 (9-9 ECC) |
| T5. Molloy | 45 | 17-10 (13-5 ECC) |
| T5. Roberts Wesleyan | 45 | 17-16 (10-8 ECC) |
| 7. Queens (1) | 36 | 4-21 (3-15 ECC) |
| 8. Staten Island | 20 | 6-20 (4-14 ECC) |
| 9. D'Youville | 14 | 15-12 (7-11 ECC) |
( ) - first place votes
Preseason Player of the Year – Katie Wall, Mercy (Sr., G, Wappingers Falls, N.Y.)
