KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For the first time in four-and-a-half years, the women's basketball program at Shawnee State earned a spot in the NAIA National Top 25 -- as DeWayne Burroughs squad begins the 2025-26 season 23rd nationally in the NAIA Women's Basketball National Preseason Top 25 poll, according to a release put out by national officials Wednesday morning.

Shawnee State, who earned 146 points to earn the 23rd position nationally in the rankings, returns nine players from its 2024-25 squad that advanced to the NAIA Second Round last season after scoring its first NAIA National Tournament victory since March 2021 with a 70-62 win over Loyola (La.).

The national preseason ranking is Shawnee State's first ranking inside the NAIA National Top 25 since Feb. 10, 2021, when Shawnee State showed up 18th in the national rankings.

The women's basketball program at Shawnee State will have plenty of opportunities to prove worthy of its ranking -- and improve on that mark -- throughout the regular season.

Of its 11 nonconference contests, the Bears will play five teams who are either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Women's Basketball National Preseason Top 25 Poll, including the following:

• No. 7 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Friday, Nov. 21, 12 p.m., Rio Grande, Ohio (Bevo Francis Classic)
• (RV) Governors State (Ill.), Saturday, Nov. 22, 11 a.m., Rio Grande, Ohio (Bevo Francis Classic)
• (RV) Southeastern (Fla.), Sunday, Nov. 30, 3 p.m., Lakeland, Fla. (The Furnace)
• No. 25 Cumberlands (Ky.), Thursday, Dec. 4, 6 p.m., Portsmouth, Ohio / Waller Gymnasium
• (RV) Pikeville (Ky.), Wednesday, Dec. 17, 6 p.m., Portsmouth, Ohio / Waller Gymnasium

Additionally, Shawnee State will have two guaranteed regular season contests against fellow RSC East Division foe and conference rival Rio Grande, who is receiving votes to begin the year, in the much-anticipated River States Conference matchups that will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in Rio Grande and Tuesday, Feb. 3 in Waller Gymnasium.

Along with bringing back the nine returners, which include Shawnee State seniors Miyoshi Ellis and Lauren Hawthorne, Bear juniors Jariah Steele and Emily Maynard, and SSU sophomores Laken Williams, Jonilyah Chambers, Addison Edmondson, Molly Howard and Jaden Tucker, 10 additional players join the returning group, including four transfers -- junior forward TK Catchings, junior forwards Lilly-May Walker and Kyla Torok and sophomore center Onyinyechi Sanders -- as well as six incoming freshmen, which are all in-state products.

Those players include two members of the Cincinnati Winton Woods OHSAA Division II State Championship team in Ra'Kayah Prince and Skylar Kesler, Logan High School talent and multi-sport athlete Makenzie Daubenmire, who will throw during the outdoor track and field season, and three players from the local Ohio Valley Conference ranks -- Portsmouth OHSAA Division V State Championship team member Savannah Cantrell, Gallia Academy's Kenya Peck and South Point's Saratina Jackson.