Christopher Newport Ranked No. 7 in WBCA Preseason Poll; Captains Also Picked to Win the C2C in Coaches Poll

NEWPORT NEWS — The Christopher Newport women’s basketball team will start the year ranked No. 7 in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Preseason Coaches’ Poll announced on Tuesday. The Captains were also picked to win the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference in the annual preseason coaches poll released by the league on Tuesday.

Continuing an impressive run among the nation’s elite, the Captains earned another top-ten start to the season in 2025-26 according to the WBCA. CNU is the only team in Division III to start the year in the top ten in each of the last five years after being ranked No. 7 in 2021, No. 2 in 2022, No. 4 in 2023, and No. 5 in last year’s preseason coaches poll.

Under the direction of head coach Bill Broderick, the Captains have continued its stay as a perennial power in Division III women’s basketball. In his first 12 seasons, the Captains have amassed an overall record of 308-47 for a winning percentage of nearly 87 percent. CNU has won six consecutive conference championships and have reached the NCAA Tournament in nine straight years. Broderick currently ranks ninth all-time and eighth among active coaches in all three NCAA Divisions in career winning percentage with an 84.7 percentage; at the Division III level, he is third behind only Brian Morehouse (Hope) and G.P. Gromacki (Amherst).

In a vote of the head coaches in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference, Christopher Newport is expected to make it seven in a row as the unanimous selections at the top of the preseason poll. CNU was picked to win the league in the preseason poll for the ninth time in ten seasons since the poll originated in 2013-14.

The Captains collected 36 points and all six first-place votes as head coaches do not vote for their own team in the preseason rankings. Salisbury was picked second with 28 points and followed in third by Mary Washington with 25 points. UC Santa Cruz secured the one remaining first-place vote and finished fourth in the poll with 22 points. Rounding out the 2025-26 C2C Preseason Coaches Poll in order were JWU Charlotte (19 pts), Regent (9 pts), and Warren Wilson (8 pts).

Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Captains will have a new look on the hardwood with just eight returners from last year’s team. Seniors McKenna Snively and Hailey Kellogg are joined by juniors Mia Wilson, Caitlin Crump, Elizabeth Creed, Jessica Dornak, and sophomores Madison McKenzie and Sarah Pritz. The Captains added transfers Kendra Rigo, Atiana Williams, and Noelle Cabiness, along with six more true freshman for Broderick to work with this season.

CNU ranked second nationally in bench scoring (43.5 ppg) and were among the highest scoring offenses in the nation with 78.3 points per game, ranking 12th in Division III. The Captains Chaos defense continued to frustrate opponents with 16.3 steals per game, ranking fifth in the country, and forced nearly 31 turnovers per game to rank fourth in Division III.

The season will begin on November 8-9 as the Captains travel to Wilmington College to face Wittenberg University and UC Santa Cruz. Over the course of the year, CNU will face at least two teams ranked in the preseason WBCA poll in No. 10 Johns Hopkins, No. 19 WashU, and potentially No. 8 Catholic based on in-season tournament results.

NYU was the near-unanimous No. 1 pick in the Coaches’ poll with Smith garnering the final first-place vote, picked second.

WBCA NCAA Division III Preseason Coaches’ Poll — 10/28/2025

The WBCA NCAA Division III Preseason Top 25 women’s basketball coaches’ poll, with teams’ records from last year in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year’s final poll, and first-place votes received.

Dropped out: No. 5 UW-Stout (23-8); No. 15 Ohio Wesleyan (25-4); No. 24 Texas Lutheran (24-5); No. 25 Western New England (25-4).

Others receiving votes:  Hope (21-5) 41; Montclair State (24-5) 38; Texas Lutheran (24-5) 34; Bethel (MN) 28; Bates (17-10) 26; Ohio Wesleyan (25-4) 25; UW-Stout (23-8) 24; UMass-Dartmouth (23-5) 22; Washington and Jefferson (24-5) 22; Transylvania (22-6) 18; John Carroll (19-7) 17; Hardin-Simmons (19-8) 16; Coe (20-7) 14; Merchant Marine (24-3) 14; Ohio Northern (19-8) 13; Mary Hardin-Baylor (17-9) 12; Brooklyn (17-12) 10; Colby (15-11) 10; Colorado College (23-4) 10; DePauw (20-7) 10; Western New England (25-4) 8; Southern Maine (18-10) 6; Linfield (19-7) 5; McMurry (23-6) 5; SUNY Geneseo (24-7) 4; UW-La Crosse (17-12) 4; Ithaca (19-8) 3; Amherst (20-8) 2; McDaniel  (18-10) 2.

The WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll Committee is composed of one head coach from each of the 10 NCAA Division III regions. The committee for the 2025-26 season: Samantha Crough, Regis (MA); Brad Fischer, UW-Oshkosh; Eric Harrison, Lehman; Jasen Jonus, Oglethorpe; Melissa Kolbe, Wittenberg; Casey Kushiyama, Puget Sound; Bobbi Morgan, Ursinus; Mia Smith, Illinois Wesleyan; Daphne Thompson, SUNY Oneonta; Kelly Thompson, Roger Williams.