The Wright State Raiders women’s basketball team released their roster for the upcoming 2025-26 season and have started summer practices. With a new season, every team has both players and coaches leaving, while others coming in. For Kari Hoffman, who is entering her fifth season as the head coach of the Raiders, it’s definitely no different. Here is a closer look at the new additions that Hoffman will have on her team:
1. Natural Born Winner
On November 13 during National Signing Week, Hoffman signed was incoming freshman Elaina Rager, a 5-9 sharpshooting guard from Pecatonica, IL who is coming off one of the best high school careers ever in the state of Illinois. Rager not only led Pecatonica High School to an Illinois High School Association Class 1A State Championship this past March, but she also ended her high school career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,182 points (male or female). Rager will wear #11 for the Raiders just like she did in high school.
2. Feeling a Little Breezie
On April 18, Hoffman signed her first transfer in 5-5 point guard Brielle “Breezie” Williams. Last season at America East school Bryant University, Williams played in 29 of the team’s 32 games (26 starts), averaging 9.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per contest. She also recorded back-to-back 20-point games in wins over Stonehill and Yale.
Williams spent her first two NCAA seasons at fellow America East school New Hampshire, where she finished in the conference’s top 10 in steals in both years with the Wildcats and made the AEC All-Freshman Team in 2022-23. As a freshman, she averaged 9.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.7 steals while playing and starting 27 of the team’s 28 games. As a sophomore, Williams played all 29 games (23 starts) and was the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 222 total points and an average of 7.6 points per game. She also averaged 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.6 steals a night. Williams, who went to GlenOak High School in Canton, OH, will be a senior this upcoming year for Wright State and will wear #0. Fun fact: Williams’ favorite hobby is video games.
3. International Love, Part I
Amazing Grace is a legendary song, but Hoffman was singing a pretty good tune when she got Grace Okih to signed on that dotted line, with the official announcement of that coming on May 21. Okih is a 6-2 post player and a native of Lagos, Nigeria, who was the second transfer coming to WSU. Okih spent last season at Incarnate Word, but did not see the court the entire year and ended up redshirting. She started her college career on the JUCO level at Jacksonville College, where she averaged 10.4 points and 11.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 2023-24 while also ranking 12th in the entire NJCAA in rebounds that same year. Okih went to Topfield College in her home country of Nigeria and will wear #8 for the Raiders as a redshirt junior.
4. International Love, Part II
If you are familiar with the famous snack, Swedish Fish, then Raider fans may love it more since Hoffman found some of her own. On June 9 via social media, the fourth and final recruit was announced as Maja Dilen, a 5-11 freshman wing from Stockholm, Sweden. Last season, Dilen played for the Norrkoping Dolphins of the Damligan League, where she averaged just 1.2 points and 7.7 minutes in 18 games for her squad. Dilen will don #13 for the green and gold.
5. Keeping It In the Family
Last, but not least, is a change in the coaching staff as Olivia Trice, the daughter of WSU co-associate men’s head coach Travis Trice, was announced on June 10 as the squad’s brand new assistant coach and director of operations. As a player, Olivia spent two years at Bowling Green and her final three years at Florida International, making WNIT appearances with both squads. After her basketball career, she stayed in school at FIU, where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Communication and Media Studies in 2023, followed by a Master’s degree in Mass Communications the year after. Trice is taking the spot that was vacated by one of Hoffman’s former players, Emily Chapman.
Here are the rest of the players and coaches returning from last year’s team:
#) Name | Ht. | Pos. | Year | Hometown | High School | Previous College (if necessary)
1) Rylee Sagester | 5-7 | G | R-So | West Alexandria, OH | Tri-Village
5) Claire Henson | 5-10 | G | Sr | Germantown, OH | Valley View | Long Island
12) Ellie Magestro-Kennedy | 5-7 | G | R-So Stoughton, WI | Janesville Craig
15) Abbie Riddle | 5-10 | G | R-So | Baltimore, OH | Liberty Union | Bowling Green
20) Makenzie Drout | 5-9 | Jr | Kimberly, WI | Kimberly | Appalachian State
21) Lauren Scott | 5-7 | Sr | Columbus, OH | Worthington Kilbourne
23) Florrie Cotterill | 6-2 | F | So | Lee-on-the-Solent, ENG | Itchen College
24) Olivia Brown | 5-7 | G | Jr | Hamilton, IN | Hamilton Southeastern | Akron
43) Chloe Chard Peloquin | 6-3 | F | R-Jr | Johnstown, OH | Newark Catholic | Canisius
Associate Head Coach: John Leonzo
Assistant Coaches: Patrick Bain and Lauren Fox
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