CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The High Point University women's basketball team has been picked No. 1 in the 2026-27 Big South Conference Preseason Poll on Wednesday morning. It's the fourth season in a row the Panthers have been selected as the favorites as Taylor Feldman and Juliann Woodard were both named Second Team All-Conference.
 
High Point finished the 2025–26 season as the Big South Regular-Season Champions and went onto become the first HPU team to win back-to-back titles. The Panthers doubled down on breaking records after becoming the highest seeded team in HPU history when they were chosen as the No. 15 seed in March Madness. They then made their third-ever appearance in High Point women's basketball history against Vanderbilt, the No. 2 seed. The Panthers were 13-3 in the league and 26-7 overall at the end of the season.

Now, the Panthers are led by first-year HPU Head Coach Wyatt Foust as he and his staff all come into their first season together with a shared goal to claim the conference title for a third year in a row.
 
Taylor Feldman – Preseason Second Team All-Conference

Feldman joined the Panters as a graduate student after previously playing her undergraduate seasons at Purdue University and Northern Arizona University. She played her senior year at Purdue starting in seven games off the bench, where she tallied 6.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and had a season-high 16 points against Miami (OH). While at Northern Arizona, she was named First Team All-Big Sky her junior year. Overall, she appeared in 101 games, started in 43, totaled 888 points — averaging 8.8 per game — and had 71 steals.
 
Juliann Woodard – Preseason Second Team All-Conference

Woodard joined High Point after spending two years at Michigan State University. She appeared in 39 games for the Spartans during her freshman and sophomore seasons. During her sophomore year, she averaged 3.7 points per game, totaling 95 points while adding 10 steals. In her freshman season, she averaged 5.7 points per game while totaling 74 points, with two steals. Woodard was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree.


2026-27 Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
 
Rk            Team (first-place votes)                 Points
T-1.        High Point (4)                                            75
T-1.        Radford (4)                                                75
3.           Longwood                                                  63
4.           Gardner-Webb                                           43
T-5.        UNC Asheville (1)                                       41
T-5.        Winthrop                                                     41
7.           USC Upstate                                              36
8.           Presbyterian College                                  18
9.           Charleston Southern                                   13
 
Note: points are based on a weighted system.  First-place votes received 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.
 
2026-27 Big South Conference Women's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
 
First Team
Georgia Simonsen, Radford (Preseason Player of the Year)
Madison Ruff, Winthrop
Aubrie Kierscht, USC Upstate
Jesstynie Scott, Longwood
Jamaria Freeman, UNC Asheville
 
Second Team
Makayla Legette, Gardner-Webb
Cate Carlson, Radford
Grace Booth, USC Upstate
Taylor Feldman, High Point
Juliann Woodard, High Point (tie)
Krystal Haddock, Presbyterian (tie)

#GoHPU