EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball is projected to place fourth in the 2025-26 Ohio Valley Conference season in a vote submitted by the league’s head coaches and communication directors.
USI heads into its fourth season in the Ohio Valley Conference and first as a full-fledged NCAA Division-I member in 2025-26. After completing the reclassification process, USI is now eligible to compete for an NCAA Championship postseason berth.
The Screaming Eagles are coming off a second consecutive berth in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 2024-25 and their first appearance in the Super Sixteen. USI went 23-13 overall and 12-8 in the OVC last season.
The 11-team OVC will feature a schedule with each team playing each other twice in a home-and-home split for a 20-game schedule. The conference schedule will run from December 18, 2025, through February 28, 2026. The conference’s season concludes with the OVC Basketball Championship Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, March 4-7, 2026.
Lindenwood University, last season’s runner-up in the OVC, topped the OVC preseason poll with 179 points and six first-place votes. Reigning Ohio Valley Conference champion Tennessee Tech University was picked second with 175 points and 12 first-place votes. Western Illinois University received a third-place projection with 166 points and four first-place votes.
USI Women’s Basketball was picked fourth with 147 points, and Eastern Illinois University was selected with 121 points. The University of Tennessee at Martin was sixth with 117 points in front of Little Rock with 110 points. Tennessee State University (78) and Southeast Missouri State University (51) were projected eighth and ninth, respectively. Morehead State University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville rounded out the preseason poll in a tie for tenth with 33 points.
As part of the OVC’s preseason announcement, USI was represented by two players on the 2025-26 OVC Players to Watch List. Senior guard Ali Saunders and junior forward Chloe Gannon were named to the list.
Saunders is USI’s top returning scorer after finishing third on the team with 10.5 points per game last season, making 32 starts in 34 appearances. Saunders shot the ball for over 42 percent from the floor and nearly 33 percent from beyond the arc in 2024-25. The guard averaged a team-high 32.9 minutes and pulled down 3.7 rebounds per game as a junior. Only two seasons removed from an All-OVC Newcomer Team selection in 2023-24, Saunders topped the team and OVC with 157 assists last year, her second consecutive season with 100-plus assists, and was second in the conference with 4.6 helpers per outing. Saunders finished third in the OVC with a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio. Defensively, Saunders was just as impactful, leading USI and the OVC with 87 steals and second in the OVC with 2.6 steals per game. Saunders scored 10 or more points in 17 games in 2024-25.
Gannon is coming off a strong finish to the 2024-25 campaign, posting 14 points in USI’s final game of the season against the University at Buffalo in the WNIT Super Sixteen. As a sophomore last season, Gannon made 33 appearances, averaging 14.6 minutes per game. The forward notched 5.2 points and 2.5 boards per outing while shooting over 42 percent overall. In the back end of the 2024-25 slate, Gannon dropped a season-high 16 points against Little Rock in early February and combined for 15 points with seven rebounds in USI’s final two games at last year’s OVC tournament. Gannon is only two seasons removed from an OVC All-Tournament Team selection in 2023-24, when the Screaming Eagles swept the OVC championship titles that season.
USI Women’s Basketball tips off its 2025-26 season on Monday, November 3 at 6 p.m. against Franklin College from inside Liberty Arena, home of the Screaming Eagles. The Eagles begin their OVC slate on December 18 when USI hosts Little Rock.
For more information on USI Women’s Basketball tickets, contact the USI Ticket Office at 812-465-1189.
2025-26 OVC Women’s Basketball Predicted Order of Finish
(as voted on by the league’s head coaches and communication directors)
1. Lindenwood (6 first-place votes) – 179
2. Tennessee Tech (12) – 175
3. Western Illinois (4) – 166
4. Southern Indiana – 147
5. Eastern Illinois – 121
6. UT Martin – 117
7. Little Rock – 110
8. Tennessee State – 78
9. Southeast Missouri – 51
10. Morehead State – 33
SIUE – 33
2025-26 OVC Preseason Players to Watch List
Lalani Ellis, Meioshe Mason – Eastern Illinois
Mya Skoff, Gracy Wernli – Lindenwood
Mya Cotto, Destinee Salgado – Little Rock
Laura Toffali, Marie Sepp – Morehead State
Lexi McCully, Ainaya Williams – Southeast Missouri
Macy Silvey, Jaiden Bryant – SIUE
Ali Saunders, Chloe Gannon – Southern Indiana
Somah Kamara, Erin Martin – Tennessee State
Chloe Larry, Reagan Hurst – Tennessee Tech
Norah Clark – UT Martin
Addi Brownfield, Allie Meadows – Western Illinois
