College basketball preview: Division III/NAIA women's teams and players to watch

Teams to watch

La Roche: Won seven straight AMCC titles from 2011-17 but will look to end a two-year drought as Hilbert has captured previous two conference titles. … Redhawks return four of five starters.

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Saint Vincent: Won PAC title in the first year of the post-Thomas More era, also the first in program history. … Bearcats return four of five starters, including leading scorer Madison Kollar (Latrobe, 16.1 ppg), and several key reserves.

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W&J: Conference runner-up handed Saint Vincent its only PAC loss last season. … Returns all-PAC honorees Alie Seto (Brownsville, second team) and Lauren Gilbert (Baldwin, second team)

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Players to watch

Jenna Cole, sr., F, La Roche: Norwin grad is reigning Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Player of the Year. Averaged a conference-leading 21.0 points to go with 7.2 rebounds and 31.7% 3-point shooting.

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Destiny Johnson, so., F, Thiel: Earned Presidents’ Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year after averaging 12.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks. Only player in the conference to average a double-double.

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Emma Stille, sr., F, Carlow: A two-time first-team All-River States Conference selection, she led the RSC in rebounds (12.2) and averaged 14.3 points.

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Did you know …

Jess Vormelker, who was the PAC Player of the Year last season, is a grad assistant at Waynesburg.