Open season: Lobo women fifth in scrambled MW preseason poll

Mountain West women’s basketball poll voters largely stuck to a tried-and-true formula for 2025-26:

Go with the favorites until somebody beats them.

Four-time defending champ UNLV got 19 of 27 first-place votes and landed as a comfortable No. 1 pick in the Mountain West preseason poll released Wednesday. League head coaches and 15 select media members voted on the predicted order of finish and for individual preseason awards.

Other than selecting UNLV as the favorite, voters did not necessarily agree on much. Six teams including the University of New Mexico received first-place votes with the Lobos picked to finish fifth overall. There was relatively little separation between San Diego State, Colorado State, Boise State and UNM for the respective second- through fifth-place spots, with each team receiving first-place votes and 200-plus points.

Junior Destinee Hooks was the lone Lobo selected to the 10-player Preseason All-Mountain West Team — one of just three non-seniors on the squad. Hooks earned All-MWC honorable mention after averaging 15 points per game last season.

UNM moved up just one notch from a sixth-place preseason forecast last season when the Lobos went on to tie for fourth place. Coach Mike Bradbury and his players have considerably higher expectations for 2025-26, but preseason polling is far more difficult in the days of NIL contracts and the NCAA transfer portal.

Four teams in the Mountain West lost either four or all five starters from a season ago, including newcomer Grand Canyon, which has no returning starters. Still, Bradbury voted the ‘Lopes first based on an outstanding transfer and recruiting class that includes Preseason Newcomer of the Year Chloe Mann.

Boise State’s Tatum Thompson was picked as the league’s Preseason Player of the Year, while SDSU’s Kendall Mosely picked up top freshman honors.

Preseason All-MWC: Milahnie Perry, AFA; Natalie Pasco, BSU; Tatum Thompson, BSU; Hannah Ronsiek, CSU; Chloe Mann, GCU; Destinee Hooks, UNM; Naomi Panganiban, SDSU; Aaliyah Alexander, UNLV; Meadow Roland, UNLV; Malene Pedersen, WYO.

Preseason Player of the Year: Thompson

Newcomer of the Year: Mann

Freshman of the Year: Kendall Mosely, SDSU

Journal Staff Writer Ken Sickenger’s Ballot: 1. UNLV, 2. Grand Canyon, 3. New Mexico, 4. San Diego State, 5. Boise State, 6. Colorado State, 7. Air Force, 8. Wyoming, 9. Fresno State, 10. Utah State, 11. Nevada, 12. San Jose State

All-MWC: Thompson, BSU; Hooks, UNM; Alexander, UNLV; Julianna Lamendola, GCU; Pederson, WYO; Panganiban, SDSU; Rowland, UNLV; Lexus Bargesser, CSU; Perry, AFA; Aaliyah Gayles, USU

Player of the Year: Thompson; Newcomer of the Year: Mann; Freshman of the Year: Kaia Foster, UNM