Picked unanimously to finish in first place in their conference for the third consecutive season in the preseason polls, the women’s basketball team has high expectations for the upcoming 2022-2023 season, said head coach Kellie Kennedy. 

“We’re in a really exciting place this year,” said Kennedy. “We have a strong nucleus of players who have a lot of experience in tough situations and are comfortable in the big moments, so there’s a lot of great things surrounding the program this year.”

The back-to-back defending Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Champions are looking to improve on their 2nd round defeat in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament last season. 

“Our expectations are always set at winning the conference championship firstly,” said Kennedy. “We have pretty much our entire team returning from last season, and this group has aspirations to go a lot further than we did. We want to make a serious run in the national tournament and possibly replicate the success of the men’s team and win the whole thing. We were not able to accomplish all the goals we set out to achieve last year and we want to change that.”

This year’s team is laden with experience with three fifth-year seniors and five fourth year players and the experienced roster will look to guide the Wolf Pack as they seek another berth in the NAIA National Tournament this upcoming season. Taylor Thomas,  senior guard and reigning SSAC Defensive Player of the Year, said this will be a huge asset.

“I think that having a lot of returning players from last season gives us a big advantage over our competition because we have a lot of chemistry, cohesion, and an established winning culture,” said Thomas. “We have great leaders on this team, know how and what it takes to win, and I’m very excited to start the season.”

Also among the returning players this season is the reigning SSAC Conference Player of Year and NAIA 3rd Team All-American guard Kennedy Hansberry.

“I’ve always been kind of an underdog, so it felt amazing to get recognized,” Hansberry said. “I knew I had put in a lot of effort and work over the course of the season, but when my name was called, it was crazy. And it really motivates me to be the best leader and teammate I can and make my team better. ” 

The Wolf Pack will begin their season on Nov. 1 with an exhibition game against Tulane University and their home opener in The Den takes place on Nov. 10 against Southern University of New Orleans.