(Monday, October 20; Sioux Center, Iowa) The Great Plains Athletic Conference has released its 2025-26 preseason women's basketball coaches' poll, and the Defenders are the pick to repeat as conference champions.

Dordt won its third straight GPAC title in 2024-25 with a 20-2 record, and the Defenders have gone a combined 61-5 over the last three seasons while winning back-to-back NAIA titles with a pair of 35-2 records the past two years.

The Defenders return Macy Sievers (senior; Storm Lake, Iowa), who averaged 15.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game. Sievers was the GPAC and NAIA Player of the Year in 2024-25 and also earned the Emil S. Liston Award, given by the NAIA for her play last season.

Gracie Schoonhoven (junior; Hospers, Iowa) returned from injury last season to play in 27 games and averaged 11.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Olivia Harazin (junior; Lake Crystal, Minnesota) scored 10.8 points per game last season and converted 45 percent of her 3-point shots. Willow Bleeker (junior; Sioux Center, Iowa) made a program-record 94 3-point shots last season while averaging 8.9 points per game. Desta Hoogendoorn (sophomore; Rock Rapids, Iowa) also appeared in all 37 games for Dordt as a freshman, averaging 6.6 points and 4.8 rebounds.

The Defenders will open the 2025-26 season on the road against Viterbo (Wisconsin) on Friday, Oct. 24, before facing Grand View (Iowa) and John Brown (Arkansas) on Nov. 7-8 in Orange City. Dordt opens the home portion of its schedule on Nov. 19 against Northwestern and will begin GPAC play on Nov. 15 at Mount Marty.

Points were awarded on an 11-1 basis, and coaches could not vote for their own teams.

Full GPAC Poll
 

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	1st Place Votes
1.	DORDT	120	10
2.	DAKOTA WESLEYAN	111	1
3.	HASTINGS	99	1
4.	BRIAR CLIFF	86
5.	MORNINGSIDE	83
6.	CONCORDIA	73
7.	NORTHWESTERN	62
8.	MOUNT MARTY	51
9.	DOANE	44
10.	MIDLAND	31
11.	WALDORF	18
12.	COLLEGE OF SAINT MARY	14