The Upper Iowa women's basketball team has been selected to finish 11th in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. The poll was voted on by all 14 of the conference's head coaches, who were not eligible to vote for their own team.

The Preseason Poll is led by last season's GLVC Tournament runner-up Lewis, who received 164 points with eight first place votes. Reigning regular season and GLVC Tournament champions Drury finished second in the poll with 150 points and four first place votes. Drury went 20-0 in conference play last season while finishing with an overall record of 31-2. Rounding out the top five are Indianapolis with 142 points, Truman State with 134 points and one first place vote and Maryville who received 120 points and one first place vote. Both Indianapolis and Truman State reached the semifinals in the conference tournament.

The Peacocks were voted to finish in 11th out of the 14 teams in the conference, accumulating 45 points. They trail 10th ranked Rockhurst who received 69 points, and rank ahead of Southwest Baptist, Illinois-Springfield and William Jewell.

Head Coach Justin Maass returns for his second season with UIU and he is joined by assistant coaches Bridgette Griffin and former Peacocks shooting guard, Natalie Dinius. Maass led the Peacocks to a record of 10-18 in 2022-23, accumulating the most wins they've had in a season since 2001-02.

UIU returns ten players from last season, including their second and third leading scorers in graduate guard Katie Tornstrom and junior guard Mia Huberty. Tornstrom came off the bench in all but one game last season, averaging 13.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game on 32.1% 3-point shooting. Huberty started 16 out of the 19 games she played in, averaging 8.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per game on 33.3% 3-point shooting. Graduate guard Brooke Evenson is back for her fifth year with the team and she has started 74 out of the 96 games she has played in over the course of her career. She averaged a season-high 10.4 points per game as a junior and 6.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Leading the frontcourt is junior forward Helen Staley. Staley spent her freshman year at Division-1 Oakland University, and averaged 5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game on 43.2% shooting in her first year with the Peacocks.

The Peacocks begin the season at home on Nov. 11 against Graceland University, which will be their first of three non-conference games to start the season. UIU will begin GLVC play on Nov. 25 at home against Indianapolis.

The Peacocks will be playing 22 conference games, 11 at home and 11 on the road. Some notable home games to look out for include Truman State on Dec. 9, Lewis on Jan. 6, Drury on Jan. 18, and Maryville on Feb. 17. Upper Iowa's final game of the regular season will be on Mar. 2 on the road against Southwest Baptist.

The top eight teams qualify for the GLVC Tournament which starts on Mar. 7, with the championship being played on Mar. 10.
 
2023-24 GLVC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL

            School                         Points (1st-Place Votes)
1          Lewis                          164 (8)
2          Drury                           150 (4)
3          Indianapolis                142
4          Truman State              134 (1)
5          Maryville                     120 (1)
6          McKendree                 102
7          Missouri S&T              90
8          Missouri-St. Louis       87
9          Quincy                        77
10        Rockhurst                   69
11        Upper Iowa                 45
12        Southwest Baptist      43
13        Illinois-Springfield       27
14        William Jewell            24