DALLAS – Louisiana Tech was voted the preseason favorite to win the 2025-26 Conference USA women's basketball regular season championship, as voted on by the league's 12 head coaches. The Lady Techster’s Paris Bradley was named the Preseason Player of the Year and headlined the conference's 11 Preseason All-Conference honorees, announced Thursday by the league.

LA Tech (18-16, 8-10 CUSA) tallied five first-place votes and finished with a total of 128 points. Brooke Stoehr enters her 10^th season as head coach of the Lady Techsters.  She is the longest active head coach of any sport at Louisiana Tech. LA Tech returns 71 percent of its scoring and 59 percent of its rebounding from last season.

Liberty (26-7, 16-2 CUSA), the 2025 CUSA Women’s Basketball Champions, was picked to finish second in the league, garnering five first-place votes as well with a total of 125 points. Middle Tennessee (26-9, 16-2 CUSA) rounded out the top three coming off yet another successful season with the Lady Raiders earning Co-Regular Season Champions.

Seven of the 11 preseason all-conference honorees earned All-CUSA recognition last season, including Bradley, who earned 2024-25 Freshman of the Year after averaging a team-high 14.4 points per game. She produced eight 20-point scoring games, the most by a Lady Techster freshman since the 1978-79 season.
 
Bradley is joined by teammate, Jordan Marshall, a 2024-25 CUSA All-Freshman honoree. Marshall returns after averaging 11.6 points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds per contest. She tallied 11 double-doubles, the third most by a player in CUSA and the second most in the nation by a freshman.  

Liberty also had two players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Avery Mills and Emmy Stout represent the Lady Flames as both players were named to the 2024-25 CUSA All-Freshman team. Mills averaged 6.8 points per game, shooting 51.9 percent from the field, while Stout is Liberty’s top returning scorer after averaging 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season.

Seven schools had one representative on the preseason team as FIU boasts Parris Atkins, a Second-Team All-Conference honoree, who ranked seventh in CUSA with 13.6 points per game. Jax State is highlighted by Mya Barnes, who averaged 7.3 points on 33.2 percent shooting and 31.5 percent from three. Keyarah Berry represents Kennesaw State as she ranked second in scoring on the team with 12 points per game and averaged 5.7 rebounds per game last season.

Rounding out the preseason team are MTSU’s Alayna Contreras, Missouri State’s Faith Lee, Sam Houston’s Deborah Ogayemi and UTEP’s Ivane Tensaie. Contreras joins the Lady Raiders after transferring from UMKC, where she led the Roos in minutes (34.7), points (17.3), field goals (6.5), three-pointers (1.9) and free throws per game (2.9). Lee, a transfer from Little Rock, is a new addition to the Bears roster after averaging 14.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per game during the 2024-25 campaign. Ogayemi, a Second-Team All-Conference recipient, returns for the Bearkats, averaging 12.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in 28 games. Tensaie, also a Second-Team All-Conference honoree, led the Miners in points per game (12.6), three-point percentage (37.8) and free throw percentage (85.0).

The 2025-26 campaign is set to tip off Monday, November 3, and will conclude at the 2026 Conference USA Basketball Championships March 10-14 at Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala. The women’s Championship title game is scheduled for Saturday, March 14 and will be aired on CBS Sports Network.

CUSA Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year
Paris Bradley, G, LA Tech
 
2025-26 CUSA Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
Parris Atkins, G, FIU
Mya Barnes, F, Jax State
Keyarah Berry, G, Kennesaw State
Avery Mills, G, Liberty
Emmy Stout, C, Liberty
Paris Bradley, G, LA Tech
Jordan Marshall, F, LA Tech
Alayna Contreras, G, MTSU
Faith Lee, F, Missouri State
Deborah Ogayemi, F, Sam Houston
Ivane Tensaie, G, UTEP
 
2025-26 CUSA Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll
1. LA Tech (5)                                128 pts
2. Liberty (5)                                  125 pts
3. MTSU (2)                                   123 pts
4. Missouri State                            107 pts
5. WKU                                           96 pts
6. FIU                                              74 pts
7. Sam Houston                              59 pts
T-8. UTEP                                       57 pts
T-8. Kennesaw State                      57 pts
10. NM State                                  51 pts
11. Delaware                                  36 pts
12. Jax State                                  23 pts