Seton Hill men's, women's basketball teams open season with PSAC title aspirations

The Seton Hill men’s and women’s basketball teams enter the 2025-26 seasons in similar places: Both must replace their leading scorers from a year ago, but both return almost all of their other key players from last season.

A look at both teams:

• Now in his fourth season as coach, Ben Wilkins is ready to see his men’s team take a significant step. The Griffins, 16-14, 8-12 in the PSAC a year ago, were picked to finish fifth in the eight-team PSAC West, but Wilkins believes there’s greater potential.

“Our first recruiting class is now seniors, and they’ve all stayed,” he said. “So this is a year that we’d like to take a huge jump. When you zoom out, this is a team that has a chance to make a jump. But to do that, we just have to focus on what’s in front of us day-to-day, drill-to-drill.”

The Griffins graduated two of their top three scorers — Ryan Meis (15.4 ppg) and Gage Lattimore (10.3) — but return junior forward Kedrick Curtis, who averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, as well as Gabe Gillespie (9.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg). Curtis nearly doubled his scoring and rebounding from his freshman to sophomore season, now, Wilkins said, he also is better at the mental part of the game to his complement physical prowess.

One veteran player who is almost like a new addition is junior guard Dimitrios Sklavenitis. The native of Greece was limited to five games by injuries last season after a promising freshman year. Healthy again, Sklavenitis is expected to be a force.

“Every day you’re seeing more and more growth, and he’s looking more like the player we know he can be,” Wilkins said. “He just adds a different level of passing.”

Redshirt sophomore forward Edir Ortiz averaged 9.4 points and 5.4 rebounds a year ago, and Wilkins said he believes Ortiz is headed for a breakout season.

“I think we can be a complete basketball team where we’re good on both sides of the ball,” Wilkins said.

• The Seton Hill women looked to be headed toward a potential PSAC West title last season. Then, standout guard and leading scorer Christiane Frye got hurt midseason and was unavailable down the stretch.

The Griffins finished tied for second in the standings (16-4) and lost in the second round of the PSAC and Atlantic Region tournaments.

But third-year coach Maeve Gallagher always seeks a silver lining, and for her team, it was the fact that they became accustomed to playing without the young lady Gallagher called a “legacy player.” And not just playing but winning.

“It was good for all of us to learn and know something existed on the other side,” Gallagher said. “You’ll never replace a student like that ever, but our women got some confidence from playing a whole different way. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

Seton Hill returns its top six scorers who finished the season: Hallie Cowan (15.7 ppg), Helene Cowan (14.6), Mia Kalich (12.1), Hailee Ford (10.2), Abby Mankins (6.4) and Shaye Bailey (5.8).

The Griffins also added transfer Kaitlyn Mankins, who appeared in eight games at D’Youville last season. She joins her sister and fellow Greensburg Salem alumnae Abby to give Seton Hill two pairs of sisters.

“She (Kaitlyn) has some time to learn,” Gallagher said. “There’s no pressure for her to come in and assume a big role.”

The Cowan twins, meanwhile, were first-team all-PSAC West — along with Kalich — and will be the heartbeat of the team. In addition to combining for 30.3 points per game, they combined for 6.0 rebounds per game as well as 155 assists and 97 steals.

“They train and work in the offseason like they’re fighting for a spot,” Gallagher said.

Seton Hill was picked to finish second behind Gannon the the division. While Gallagher doesn’t want her players to look too far ahead, she understands that winning a title is the end game.

“I think this group, if you ask them, that’s, obviously, their big goal,” she said. “I want to see this group reach that level of success that they’ve had their eye on since they got here. And I think they’re the group to do it.”