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IRVINE, Calif. – Less than two weeks away from the dawn of a new season, the Concordia University Irvine women’s basketball team was voted fifth in the PacWest preseason poll announced on Tuesday.
Head coaches from the ten teams in the conference cast their votes and the defending conference champion Vanguard Lions were named as the preseason favorite to repeat. Vanguard received eight first-place votes while Westmont and Dominican each earned one vote. Point Loma was picked second with Westmont, Biola and CUI rounding out the top five.
CLICK HERE for the full PacWest Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll
CUI head coach Christine Collins-Kiernan enters her tenth season at the helm and has multiple returning starters back as well as a deep bench and talented newcomers joining the fold.
Sophomore guard Asia Darcuiel was the PacWest Freshman of the Year after averaging 15.5 point per game, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Darcuiel was also named to the PacWest Preseason Watch List as she was a Second Team All-PacWest selection as a true freshman. The watch list is made up of returning All-Conference players.
Darcuiel is joined by fellow starters Genesis Hopkins (8.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.4 bpg) and senior Myia Collins (7.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg). Hopkins was a devastating defender down low and established herself as a block machine as well as a rebounding vacuum in her first season in Irvine, while Collins proved she can clean the glass or light it up with the jumper as well.
There are eight more returners who can provide a boost in various ways. Junior forwards Sophie McWatt and Cadence Tarrant as well as senior guard Hannah Vela are back along with an impressive sophomore class. Audrey Counts and Ellana Klemp can knock it down from behind the arc while Allison Shumate, Macy Freeze and Cadence Williams offer different combinations for the good of the group.
Two new guards transferred to Concordia. Graduate student Izzy Om is a multi-faceted guard who previously played at the University of Albany but is originally from Norwalk, Calif. Her new teammate, Scottsdale, Arizona native Maelyn McNealy, joins the squad after starting over 60 games in two year at fellow NCAA DII school Northwood University.
Coach Collins-Kiernan also brought in five new freshmen. That list includes Yazmin Aguilera (G, Clovis HS); Presley Berry (F, Faith Christian HS); Lauryn Keilman (F, Belleview HS); Milly Rojas (G, Porterville HS) and Olivia Sturdivant (G, Villa Park HS).
Concordia opens the regular season at Fresno Pacific on Monday, Nov. 9 in what will be a non-conference matchup between former PacWest foes.
The Golden Eagles will hold their home opener later that week on Friday, Nov. 13 at 3:00 pm PT against Stanislaus State as part of a tripleheader in the CU Arena. There will be two women’s basketball games that afternoon before the CUI men host Cal State San Marcos at 7:30 p.m. later that night.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI women’s basketball schedule