RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.  -  Defending GAC Tournament Champion Henderson State has been picked sixth in the 2024-25 GAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll.

The Reddies received 75 total votes to claim their No. 6 spot. Last season, the Reddies won 20 games for the first time since the 2019-20 season en route to a conference title. HSU finished with a winning record for the seventh year in a row.

Harding is the preseason favorite to win the GAC after receiving 117 votes and seven of the 12 available first place votes. Southern Nazarene earned 111 votes and four first-place votes after claiming a No. 1 seed in last year's NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma Baptist and 2024 semifinalist Southwestern Oklahoma State tied for third with 84 votes. Arkansas Tech received 81 total votes and the remaining first-place vote to take fifth in the poll. No. 7 Northwestern Oklahoma State (65 votes) and No. 8 Ouachita Baptist (59 votes) were the only other teams with at least 50 votes.

Jill Thomas returns as head coach after signing a contract extension that will keep her at Henderson through 2027. Thomas is the Reddies' all-time winningest coach with 167 wins. Though the team graduated all-conference players Ashley Farrar and Tori Gittens, this year's squad boasts a promising core led by veterans such as graduate students Jadah Pickens and Makenna Winans, senior Bobbi Bazzle, and junior Brynlee Huggins. Gittens returns as a graduate assistant on a coaching staff that also features associate coach Christina Harvey and assistant coach Cole Cocroft.

HSU's season tips off against Central Missouri at the GAC/MIAA Conference Challenge in Warrensburg, Missouri. The game is set for an 11:30 a.m. start on Friday, November 8.

2024-25 GAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL