WHEELING – Following a vote of the league’s 11 head coaches, Fairmont State has been selected as the preseason favorite for the 2025-26 Mountain East Conference women’s basketball season.
The MEC women’s basketball preseason poll was announced Tuesday afternoon here at WesBanco Arena, the site of this year’s Basketball Media Day.
The Falcons swept the regular season and tournament championships last season. Fairmont State is coming off a 27-5 season, including a 17-3 record in MEC play. The Falcons won three games in three days in last March’s MEC championship, defeating those three opponents by an average of 19.3 points per game. Stephanie Anderson was named the MEC Coach of the Year and overall MEC Women’s Sports Coach of the Year. Leslie Huffman returns after a decorated campaign in which she was named the MEC Player of the Year, D2CCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year, a D2CCA and WBCA All-American, the MEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, and MEC Female Athlete of the Year.
Three other teams received at least one first place vote: West Virginia Wesleyan (one), which placed second in the preseason poll, Glenville State (one), and Charleston (two). Concord rounded out the top five, followed by Frostburg State, and West Virginia State. West Liberty and Wheeling tied for eighth, followed by Point Park and Davis & Elkins.
The 2025-26 MEC Basketball Media Day was held in the WesBanco Arena, the site of this March’s Mountain East Conference basketball championship. The tournament begins Wednesday, March 4 and will conclude with the men’s and women’s championship games on Sunday, March 8.
| MEC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll | ||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points |
| 1 | Fairmont State (7) | 94 |
| 2 | West Virginia Wesleyan (1) | 79 |
| 3 | Glenville State (1) | 78 |
| 4 | Charleston (2) | 77 |
| 5 | Concord | 60 |
| 6 | Frostburg State | 56 |
| 7 | West Virginia State | 48 |
| 8 | West Liberty | 39 |
| 8 | Wheeling | 39 |
| 10 | Point Park | 25 |
| 11 | Davis & Elkins | 10 |
