ORLANDO, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference announced its 2026–27 women's basketball preseason coaches' poll Thursday afternoon, with the Florida Southern College women's basketball selected fifth among the league's 11 programs.

The Moccasins earned 44 total points in the annual poll, voted on by head coaches across the SSC. Embry-Riddle was picked to win the regular season title with 18 points and five first-place votes, followed by Tampa (20 points, three first-place votes) in second. Last year's regular-season champs in Eckerd were placed third (30 points, one first-place votes).

"Being voted as number five in the preseason [poll] gives us somethign to build on and a goal to chase," said head coach Megan Dzikas. "We believe in what we have in this group and what we're capable of accomplishing. At the end of the day, it's not about where you start, but where you finish."

The Moccasins have a great mix of returning talent, such as Lily Pereira (8.1 ppg), Nia Blocton (7.8 ppg) and Catalina Ion (7.5 ppg), along with a slew of incoming talent. The Mocs bring in multiple Division I transfer in Alyssa Costigan (Manhattan), Makenzie Drout (Wright State) and Teodora Simoncevic (Denver).

Dzikas, now in her fifth season as the head coach, starts her second season with her staff in Shelby Wheeler and Bobby Orndoff. In the trio's first full season together last year, the Mocs went 23-8 including an astounding 15-1 record at home. The team made a run to the SSC Tournament Finals before being selected in the NCAA Tournament as the seventh seed.

Florida Southern opens their 2026-27 campaign on November 13 with the annual GSC/SSC, held at Tampa, against Lee.