PORTLAND, Ore. – The Great Northwest Athletic Conference released its women's basketball preseason coaches poll on Tuesday, with the Alaska Nanooks coming in 10th.

Western Washington claimed the top spot in this year's preseason poll, receiving 90 points and five first-place votes. The Vikings, who finished last season fourth in the conference with a 12-6 GNAC record, came in one point ahead of Central Washington, who received 89 points and four first-place votes. The Wildcats tied for second with Montana State Billings in last year's GNAC standings with a 14-4 conference record. Saint Martin's was predicted to make the jump to third in the conference this season after a sixth-place finish in 2024-25, earning 72 points, while Montana State Billings claimed the fourth spot in the poll with 64 points and the final first-place vote. The following two teams came within two points of MSUB, as Northwest Nazarene's 63 points put them in fifth, while Alaska Anchorage was picked to finish sixth with 62 points. The Nighthawks were predicted to match last year's fifth-place finish, while UAA's sixth-place prediction comes off of them winning the GNAC with a 16-2 conference record in 2024-25. The rest of the conference were predicted to finish in the same spots as last year, as Simon Fraser (seventh), Western Oregon (eighth), Seattle Pacific (ninth) and Alaska (10th) rounded out the list.

The 'Nooks open their season with exhibition contests at George Fox on Oct. 30 and Oregon State on Nov. 2, before playing their regular season opener on Nov. 14 vs. Hawaii Hilo in the first game of the North Star Invitational presented by Mt. McKinley Bank.

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