COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced their 2025 women's basketball preseason coaches' poll and their 2025 Preseason All-RMAC Team Thursday afternoon and BHSU landed at sixth in the poll with 127 points and one third place vote, while sophomore Bradie Schlabs was the lone Yellow Jacket on the All-RMAC team.
 
KELLY KRUGER | 1ST SEASON (BHSU) 35^TH SEASON (OVERALL) | 531-446 (.544) OVERALL | 68-74 (.479) RMAC
The Yellow Jackets are entering the first year of the Kelly Kruger era at BHSU. Kruger, who came out of retirement to take over Black Hills State, prior to retiring, Kruger spent 34 years as a head coach across NAIA, NJCAA, NCAA DII levels. He spent time at Northwestern College (Iowa), Southwest Minnesota State University, Ashford University, and Iowa Central Community College. He also spent seven years in the RMAC with Adams State between 2006 and 2013. Kruger, a well-known program builder, will now take on a very young Yellow Jackets team, who lost four starters to graduation last year.
 
BRADIE SCHLABS | SOPHOMORE | GUARD | 5-6 | CHEYENNE, WYO. | CHEYENNE EAST H.S.
Schlabs is entering the season off of a historic Freshman campaign, where she became the first player in BHSU history to have 300 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists in a season. She jumped all the way to third on single season assists and assists per game lists with 129 and 4.4 respectively. She earned a second-team All-RMAC nod with that stat line to go with 12.6 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game. She went 138-354 from the field for a 39.0 field goal percentage and went 28-86 for a team-high 32.1 three-point percentage. She will look to continue her historic start to her career as a sophomore.
 

Top-5 BHSU Single Season Assist Leaders	Top-5 BHSU Single Season APG Leaders
1. Traci Schnek, 184 (1996-97)	1. Traci Schnek, 5.9 (1996-97)
2. Traci Schnek, 164 (1995-96)	2. Traci Schnek, 5.0 (1995-96)
3. Bradie Schlabs, 129 (2024-25)	3. Bradie Schlabs, 4.4 (2024-25)
4. Amanda Schelle, 115 (1999-00)	T-4. Alexis Krull, 4.1 (2006-07)
5. Tina Heinbaugh, 113 (1994-95)	T-4. Amanda Schelle, 4.1 (1999-00)

 
OTHER TOP RETURNERS
The three top returners for BHSU are Audrey Norville, Maureen Ulrich, and Emily Cooper. Norville was the sixth woman for the Yellow Jackets last season averaging 16.1 minutes per game and averaging 1.7 points per game and 2.7 rebounds per game and was an excellent defender for BHSU last year having eight rebounds in a game versus Regis last year. Ulrich was a top player for the Green and Gold before suffering a season-ending injury early last season. In the seven games she played in last year, she averaged 6.1 points per game and had a 19-point performance in the game versus Lubbock Christian. She then followed that up with 13 points against Minot State. She went 12-16 from the field combined over those two games. Cooper played in 27 of the 29 games last season and had a season high eight points versus Southwest Minnesota State. She was a solid three-point shooter for the Jackets, going 13-44 from the three-point line last season.
 
INCOMING TRANSFERS
The Yellow Jackets grabbed three highly-productive, Division II players from the transfer portal this cycle and all three have a chance to make an impact early. BHSU got two transfers from RMAC opponent Regis in Taylin Serlen and Addison Branscum. Serlen started all but one game for the Rangers as a Freshman. She averaged 7.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and led the team with 29 blocks. She had a career-high 18 points versus St. Mary's (TX) last year and also dropped a combined 26 points with seven rebounds and two blocks versus the Yellow Jackets last year. She had one double-double last year with 13 points and 10 rebounds versus MSU Denver and had four blocks in the game versus UCCS. Branscum was a role player for the Rangers. She started 7 of the 27 games she played in and averaged 25.3 minutes per game. She averaged 6.0 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 44.8 percent from the field. The other impact transfer in the lone senior on the BHSU roster in Brinlee McRae. McRae is a transfer from in-state opponent Augustana. She started 13 of 28 games and averaged 19.1 minutes per game for the Vikings last year. In her junior season, she averaged 6.5 points per game while nabbing 38 steals and shooting 33 percent from the three-point line. She had a season-high 18 points versus Hastings, while also having a season-high five steals in that same game.
 
NOTEWORTHY FRESHMAN
The Yellow Jackets brought in six freshman this year with two of them, both from Montana, looking to carve roles early in this lineup. Alli Glasscock, a 6-2 forward from Miles City, Montana, was named First Team All-State in the Northeastern A division after averaging 10.3 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.5 steals her senior season. She had a 20-point game in the Montana State Quarterfinals to lift Custer County to a semifinals birth. Kenleigh Graham, a 6-0 guard/forward from Dillon, Montana, is another intriguing freshman, who, like Glasscock, was named first team all-state in Montana last year and averaged 15.2 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. She had 17 points and eight rebounds in that loss to Glasscock's Custer County in the state tournament last year.

EARLY SEASON SCHEDULE
The Women's team begins their season with a Lone Star Conference doubleheader versus St. Edward's and St. Mary's in A2 Arena on November 14 and 16. This will be the only home matchups they have until December as they head to Minnesota Crookston for the back end of a home and home on November 19 before facing east river schools Sioux Falls and Northern State in the East/West Challenge on November 21 and 22. BHSU will then enter RMAC play with a road matchup versus South Dakota Mines on December 2 and then will come home to face Chadron State on December 4. The Yellow Jackets will finish the first half of their season with a home stand versus UCCS and Colorado Christian on December 11 and 13.
 
 2025-26 PRESEASON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES' POLL

Pl.	Team (1st-2nd-3rd)	Points
1.	Colorado Mesa (9-5-0)	191
2.	UCCS (6-4-3)	181
3.	Adams State (0-4-3)	159
4.	Western Colorado (0-2-4)	150
5.	Colorado School of Mines (0-0-4)	141
6.	Black Hills State (0-0-1)	127
7.	CSU Pueblo	121
8.	New Mexico Highlands	117
9.	MSU Denver	89
10.	Colorado Christian	75
11.	South Dakota Mines	56
12.	Fort Lewis	54
13.	Westminster	47
14.	Chadron State	46
15.	Regis	21

Notes: Coaches were not permitted to vote for their team. 14 points for a 1st place vote, 13 for a 2nd, etc. 196 points maximum in women's basketball

2025-26 PRESEASON ALL-RMAC

Pos.	Player	School	Yr.	Hometown
F	Olivia Reed Thyne (PotY, 1)	Colorado Mesa	Sr.	Windsor, Colo.
G	Kiiyani Anitielu (1)	Adams State	Sr.	Farmington, N.M.
G	Amyah Moore Allen (1)	UCCS	R-Sr.	Colorado Springs, Colo.
G	Jenna Shandy [nee Seibert] (1)	Colorado School of Mines	R-Sr.	Parker, Colo.
G	Ivey Schmidt (1)	Western Colorado	Sr.	Ginnell, Iowa
G	Kapiolani Anitielu (FotY, 2)	New Mexico Highlands	So.	Farmington, N.M.
F	Taejhuan Hill (2)	Adams State	So.	Albuquerque, N.M.
G	Bradie Schlabs (2)	Black Hills State	So.	Cheyenne, Wyo.
F	Morning Grace Spotted Bear (2)	South Dakota Mines	R-Jr.	Billings, Mont.
G	Teuila Nawahine	Westminster	Sr.	Highland, Utah

Symbols in parentheses are 2024-25 All-RMAC Recognitions: FoTY was the Freshman of the Year; 1 -was a First Team All-RMAC selection; 2 - was a Second Team All-RMAC selection; H - was an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection.