MANSFIELD, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team is projected to finish third in the Northeast Division, according to Friday's reveal of the Northeast-10 Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll.
The runner-up in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship in 2019-20, Saint Anselm earned 66 points to take third place in the annual coaches' projections. Stonehill, the reigning NE10 postseason champions, collected 89 points and 12 first-place votes. Bentley earned two first-place votes and racked up 76 points for second place.
Saint Anselm has placed third or better in each of the last three preseason coaches' polls and has found itself in the top three of the division's standings across the past five seasons. Most recently, the Hawks defeated New Haven in the NE10 Quarterfinals in 2019-20 before clipping Adelphi in the league's semifinals – the Hawks lost to Stonehill by an 80-61 margin in the league's February 2020 title game.
Saint Anselm earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship and was looking to defend its East Region Championship, earned following the 2018-19 campaign, but the 2019-20 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hawks finished the year with a 21-7 record and were set to make the team's ninth NCAA postseason appearance.
Last season, the Hawks did not compete in intercollegiate play, but trained together under the direction of Head Coach Corey Boilard throughout the academic year that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Boilard and the Hawks have racked up an impressive 60-29 (.674) record since he assumed the head coaching position at Saint Anselm in 2017.
Senior Peyton Steinman (Pittsfield, Mass.) returns for Saint Anselm after averaging 19.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in 2019-20, earning First Team All-Conference honors from the NE10 following the regular season. She led Saint Anselm with 102 assists and her points per game figure ranked second in the NE10 at year's end.
Steinman is joined on the roster by seniors Jenoyce Laniyan (Bedford, N.H.) and Stephanie Jankovic (Averill Park, N.Y.). Junior Macy Spinks (Luton, England) is a returning starter for Saint Anselm who finished seventh in the NE10 with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.48 to cap off the 2019-20 campaign.
