NASHVILLE – In its first year in the league, the Trevecca Nazarene University women's basketball team was selected to finish tied for sixth in the 2024-25 Gulf South Conference preseason coaches' poll on Wednesday.
All 12 of the first-place votes were split between Union (8) and Lee (4), the only two schools to receive over 100 points in the poll.
| SELECTION |
SCHOOL |
POINTS |
| 1 |
Union (8) |
118 |
| 2 |
Lee (4) |
114 |
| 3 |
Valdosta State |
89 |
| 4 |
West Florida |
87 |
| 5 |
Auburn Montgomery |
78 |
| t-6 |
Delta State |
60 |
| t-6 |
Trevecca |
60 |
| 8 |
Mississippi College |
58 |
| 9 |
Montevallo |
47 |
| 10 |
Alabama Huntsville |
44 |
| 11 |
West Alabama |
23 |
| 12 |
Christian Brothers |
14 |
Valdosta State, the reigning GSC regular season and tournament champions, was picked third behind both Union and Lee who took the top two spots respectively.
West Florida and Auburn Montgomery round out the top five before Trevecca. Tied the Trevecca in sixth is Delta State with both schools receiving 60 points.
Full GSC Preseason Poll Release
GSC Newcomer Watchlist
Cheyenne Trotter (
BIO) - F | 5-11 | JR | Springfield, IL / Lanphier HS / John A. Logan College
Jeannae Bolin (
BIO) - F | 5-10 | FR | Louisville, KY / Pleasure Ridge Park HS
Shinae Howard Johnson (
BIO) - G | 5-6 | FR | Nashville, TN / Hillsboro HS
2024-2025 PREVIEW
Karen Booker is back for her third season as head coach of the Trojans and is looking to guide Trevecca to its third straight NCAA Regional tournament appearance in as many seasons. Booker was hired as Trevecca's sixth women's coach prior to the 2022-2023 season and was named the 2023 Great Midwest Coach of the Year. Her 41 wins in the first two seasons is second-most in program history behind Gary Van Atta who amassed 58 wins. Her 28 conference wins during that span is the most by any coach in Trevecca women's basketball history.
THE ROSTER
The Trojans return seven from last year's roster including six sophomores and one junior.
Of the returners,
Jayda Woods leads the effort as most experienced, averaging just under 23 minutes per game in the nine games she played. For a full season of work,
Amaya Thomas averaged 17.5 minutes per game, playing in every contest with one start. Thomas averaged just under five points and three rebounds a game.
Carden Vailes and
Monique Emelifeonwu also return with experience at the guard and forward positions, respectively.
The final three returners are
Tatum Shaw, who missed all last season due to injury as well as
Braley Bushman and
Brianna Burgess. Both Bushman and Burgess contributed a year ago at different points of the season.
There are seven newcomers to make up the 14-person roster. The newest Trojans reflect coach Booker's use of the transfer portal by securing one sophomore, one junior, a pair of seniors to go with three freshmen.
In all, there are four transfers on the team. Janissa Varela is a senior from Golden-Beacom College whereas
Storm Wilson is transferring in from Tusculum University. Rounding out the upperclassman transfer is
Cheyenne Trotter from John A. Logan College while
Marta Raseron is a redshirt sophomore product of King University.
The three freshmen include local Shinae Howard Johnson from Hillsboro High School and
Dayonna Perryman from Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga.
Jeannae Bolin is the final freshman hailing from Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Louisville.
2024-25 SCHEDULE
The thirty-second Trevecca Nazarene University women's basketball team begins a 28-game regular season schedule with three exhibitions scheduled on the front end. The opening game is an exhibition with UT-Martin before Bryan College visits for the 2023 Trevecca Homecoming game on November 2. Two days later, the Trojans host cross town Fisk University before beginning the regular season later that same week.
The six game non-conference slate kicks off on Friday, November 8 when the Trojans take on Barry University. The next day, the South Region Crossover concludes with Trevecca taking on Lynn University.
The following week sees Trevecca take on two Kentucky schools when it travels to the state capitol of Frankfort to face off with Kentucky State University on November 12. The Trojans and Panthers of Kentucky Wesleyan do battle for the first-time ever in a non-conference game on November 16.
Trevecca takes on Lane College on November 19 and Thomas More University on the 23rd before jumping into Gulf South Conference play the day before Thanksgiving.
The 22-game conference schedule starts with a visit from the University of Alabama-Huntsville on November 27 in Trojan Fieldhouse.
December starts off with two road games at Auburn University Montgomery on December 5 and the University of Montevallo on December 7 before the Trojans return home for a single game against the University of West Alabama on December 14.
Three road games close out 2024 and start 2025 with trips to Valdosta State on December 19, the University of West Florida on December 21 and Lee University on January 4.
After Lee, the Trojans are tested by Delta State on January 9 and Mississippi College on January 11 before hitting the road again mid-January. Christian Brothers is the opponent on January 16 and the long-awaited rivalry with Union is renewed on January 18.
The Trojans finish up January with games against Montevallo and AUM at home before going to West Alabama on January 30.
The trip to Huntsville, Alabama to take on the Chargers is February 1 before a home-heavy February sees West Florida, Valdosta State and Lee all make return trips to Nashville. After the Trojans battle Mississippi College on February 20 and travel to Delta State on February 22, the regular season concludes with Union in Trojan Fieldhouse on February 27 and Christian Brothers making a visit on Senior Day, March 1.
The conference tournament begins with the Gulf South Conference quarterfinals at the home of the top four seeds on March 4, 2025. The GSC Semifinals and Finals are March 7-8 at the home of the regular season champion.
2023-24 SEASON REVIEW
Trevecca finished the 2023-24 season 19-12 overall (13-7 G-MAC) holding a 10-4 mark at home.
The Purple and White finished the regular season with a 17-10 record, advancing to the 2023 Great Midwest Championships as the No. 6 seed. After taking down No. 3 Northwood in the opening round, the Trojans marched their way into the Championship game for the second consecutive season where they fell to defending Div. II champion Ashland who went on to make the final four.
Trevecca pushed through to their second consecutive appearance in the 2024 NCAA Division II Midwest Regionals. The eighth-seeded Trojans fell in the opening round to top seeded Grand Valley State who fell in the Regional Finals to Ferris State.
2023-24 INDIVIDUAL AWARDS | RECORDS
KEELEY CARTER
Became the NCAA Division II era all-time leading scorer during the 2022-23 season. Carter eclipsed Sarah Raby as the all-time scoring leader with 21 points in TNU's win over Tiffin University on February 11 and finished her career with 1,848 career points.
She became the third NCAA era Trojan to score 1,000 career points. She reached the mark in her 58th career game on Jan. 31, 2023, in Trevecca's 63-55 win over Kentucky Wesleyan.
NCAA Era Career Record: Points – 1,848 (reached 1,000 points in 58th career game)
NCAA Era Career Record: Made Free Throw – 499
NCAA Era Career Record: Rebounds – 673 (2023-24)
NCAA Era Career Record: Made Field Goals – 628 (2023-24)
NCAA Era Career Record: Made 3-Pt Field Goals – 93 (2023-24)
NCAA Era Season Record: Scoring Average – 21.1 (2023-24)
NCAA Era Season Record: Made Field Goal –195 (2022-23)
NCAA Era Season Record: Made Free Throw – 149 (2022-23)
Career High Game: Points – 29 vs Tiffin
Double Digit Scoring Streak: 42 Games (spanned part of sophomore season)
Career Double Digit Scoring Games: 28
