#CAAHOOPS WBB NOTEBOOK - NOV. 2
Ben Kane
RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 2, 2025) –The 2025-26 women’s basketball season is officially here with eight programs taking the court on the opening day of college hoops. Monmouth leads the pack for CAA matchups, taking on Chestnut Hill College at 3 p.m., before Charleston and Northeastern tip off an hour later. Hofstra and Campbell go to work at 5 p.m., with UNCW following suit at 6 p.m. Elon and N.C. A&T round in the evening with 7 p.m. games.
Weekly Report
NEWS AND NOTES
Charleston’s Barbot Named to 2026 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List
CAA Preseason Player of the Year and Charleston junior guard Taryn Barbot has been named to the 2026 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List by Her Hoop Stats. The 25-player watch list consists of student-athletes from 19 programs across 12 different conferences. To be eligible for the award, players must compete in one of the 26 conferences deemed to be “mid major”, not including: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, and SEC. Barbot is the first Charleston player to receive the honor after leading the conference in eight statistical categories last season, averaging 17.7 points per game alongside 7.2 rebounds. The Floral Park, N.Y. resident became the first sophomore in program history and the fastest Charleston basketball player, across both men and women, to reach 1,000 career points. The program’s first CAA Player of the Year eclipsed 10 or more points in her last 18 games of the 2024-25 campaign and reached double digits in 27 of her 33 contests last year.
One of the best in Major Hoops
Selected first in the CAA Preseason Coaches’ Poll, Charleston was ranked No.23 on the College Insider Mid Major Preseason Poll. Led by the CAA Player of the Year, the Cougars finished with a 25-8 record overall and a 14-4 mark in conference play in 2024-25. Despite falling in the semifinals of the conference tournament, Robin Harmony’s program ended on a high note with Charleston earning its first postseason win inside TD Arena after defeating Howard in the WNIT. Alongside Barbot, All-CAA Third Team selection Taylor Barbot also makes her return after averaging 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.
Return of the Stars
Barbot isn’t the only player returning from an All-CAA campaign, as four other All-CAA selections - Amaris Baker (First Team), Taylor Barbot (Third Team), Gianni Boone (Third Team), and Chaniya Clark (Third Team) – return for another year of competition alongside four All-Rookie Team selections. Earning All-Rookie honors, Elon’s Jayda Angel made the jump to the preseason All-CAA First Team this season after garnering Rookie of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year honors just a year ago. The first-year Phoenix guard was the second-highest scorer on her team, averaging 10.0 points per game alongside 4.0 rebounds. The North Carolina native took home CAA Rookie of the Week accolades an impressive five times, the most amongst any freshman in the conference this season.
How the Cookies Crumbled
After a record-setting season, Charleston collected eight first-place votes to take the top spot in the preseason predicted order of finish. Perennial contender Drexel garnered two first-place votes to rank second, while defending CAA regular-season champion North Carolina A&T got three first-place votes and was picked third.
Campbell and Elon round out the top five, followed by the defending CAA champion, William & Mary, which was picked to finish sixth. Towson, Monmouth, and Hofstra slot into the next three spots, followed by UNCW, Hampton, Stony Brook, and Northeastern to round out the 13-team poll.
The CAA LOVES Postseason Hoops
Four teams earned entry into the 2025 women’s basketball postseason, with William & Mary, Campbell, and Charleston all earning victories in their respective tournaments. After becoming the highest seed to win the CAA Championship, the Tribe earned its first NCAA postseason win with a 69-63 result over High Point before falling to Texas in the next round. Campbell found success in the WNIT, earning the nickname “Cardiac Camels”. Ronny Fisher’s program picked up the first WNIT win in program history and just the third postseason tournament win overall after defeating both Coastal Carolina and Tennessee Tech in the WBI tourney in 2019. Charleston also advanced in the WNIT, defeating Howard in the second round before falling to Rutgers. N.C. A&T also competed in the WBIT.
TEAM NOTES
Campbell
Gianni Boone earned Preseason All-CAA First Team honors after averaging 11.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game last season
Incoming freshman N’na Konte helped Switzerland go 5-2 in group play at the FIBA U20 Women’s Eurobasket, averaging 6.7 rebounds per game
Campbell won 22 games last season, tying the second most in program history. It was also the fifth time in nine seasons under Ronny Fisher that the Camels have won 20 or more games
Charleston
Preseason All-CAA Second teamer Taylor Barbot tallied her career-high assist record of 12 two times in conference play last season
Preseason Player of the Year Taryn Barbot led the conference in scoring last season with 17.7 points per game
Charleston’s 16.9 scoring margin was one of the top marks in the nation last season
Drexel
Preseason All-CAA First Team selection Amaris Baker scored 17 points per game, while reaching double digits in 27 contests
Julia Garcia Roig joins the Dragons after two seasons at Xavier, where she played in 26 games, shooting .329 from the field alongside a .842 free throw percentage
Deja Evans is the CAA’s highest returner in blocks after averaging 2.3 for second in the conference just a year ago
Elon
Jayda Angel returns for a second year after becoming the first player in program history to win both CAA Rookie of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year in the same season
In her first game for the Phoenix, LaNae Corbett led Elon with 18 points, five rebounds, four steals, and shot a team-best 67% from the field in an exhibition against Winston-Salem State
Elon was tabbed fifth in the 2025-26 CAA Preseason Poll, the highest spot since the 2022-23 season when the Phoenix were picked fourth
Hampton
Aisha Dabo is the Pirates' leading returning scorer, averaging 8.1 points per game alongside 4.4 rebounds
Aaryn Battle headlines a group of newcomers after playing 64 games across two seasons at Pitt. She had eight games in double figures for scoring
Hampton was second in the CAA last season in steals, averaging 9.68 per game
Hofstra
Emma Von Essen, selected as a Preseason All-CAA Honorable Mention, averaged the second most 3-pointers per game in the CAA with 2.4
Returning Preseason All-CAA selection Chloe Sterling led the Pride in scoring (13.0), assists (3.6), steals (28), and minutes (33.3) per game
Hofstra was one of five CAA programs to make an appearance on the WBCA Academic List for the 2024-25 season after averaging a 3.366 GPA
Monmouth
Divine Dibula became the first Hawk to land on a CAA preseason honorable mention team since 2023-24 after averaging a career-high 8.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game
Monmouth sat second in team field goal percentage scoring on a .415 clip last season
The Hawks ranked second in blocked shots per game during the 2024-25 campaign, averaging an impressive 4.90 across 31 games. Their total of 152 was also 42 tallies higher than second-place UNCW
N.C. A&T
Preseason All-CAA selection Chaniya Clark enters the season seventh all-time amongst the program’s leaders for blocks with 103
D’Mya Tucker is the only remaining player on the Aggies roster with NCAA Tournament experience after winning the MEAC her freshman year
N.C. A&T held its opponents to the lowest shooting percentage in the conference on a .374 clip
UNCW
Kate Hollifield returns to Wilmington after leading the CAA by shooting 43.5% from 3-point range in conference matchups
Tia Dobson also returns alongside three other guards, having led all freshmen in the conference with 65 assists
The Seahawks were second in the CAA in team 3-point percentage last season, scoring on a .304 clip from deep
Northeastern
All-CAA Preseason honoree Yirsy Queliz enters her junior season after averaging an impressive 12.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while leading the Huskies with 21 steals against conference opponents
Northeastern took two conference games last season, including a 61-51 victory over Hofstra on Feb. 16
Alyssa Staten’s 8.5 rebounds per game ranked first amongst her teammates and fifth in the conference last season
Stony Brook
Playing in 25 games last season, Janay Brantley returns for her junior season after averaging a career-high 8.7 points.
Stony Brook restricted its opponents to a conference low and nationally-ranked .260 3-point percentage
Joy McCorvey enters her second season with the Seawolves, having guided her team to a 12-18 record a year ago
Towson
India Johnston, a Preseason All-CAA selection, paced the Tigers with 12.5 points per game on 37.4% shooting from the field, adding a team-best 2.5 assists last year
Towson closed the 2024-25 season with six wins over their final ten games and returned five players from last season’s squad
The Tigers ranked fifth in the CAA for team rebounds, averaging 38.2 per game
William & Mary
Cassidy Geddes picked up her second career preseason CAA nod after averaging 9.7 points and scoring in double figures on 16 occasions
W&M returned all nine of its non-graduating players from last year’s championship run while adding six newcomers for the 2025-26 season
The Tribe defeated four teams it had gone 0-5 against during the regular season to win its first CAA title