The Wright State women’s basketball team are looking to have a much better 2025-26 season than the one before, and some people think that Kari Hoffman – heading into her fifth year as the head coach – is on the hot seat. Following a successful 2023-24 campaign, Hoffman was given a contract extension through 2030 from then-Athletic Director Bob Grant right before he retired. But after last year’s team finished 10-22 overall and 7-13 in conference play, some fans think that Hoffman didn’t deserve the extension. This season, Hoffman and her crew plan to shut up the critics, but it’s not going be an easy task now that they have to replace 56 percent of their scoring from the campaign before.
Also, Wright State was one of the worst teams in the nation in terms of scoring defense, ranking 45th in opponent’s points per game (71.5) and 43rd in opponent’s field goal percentage (44.4 percent).
Amaya Staton, the Horizon League’s leading rebounder and shot blocker, graduated; while Makiya Miller, Macie Taylor, and Elle Bruschuk transferred after the season ended. The other two players that are gone, Lexi Bugajski and Anna Azzara, both left the team in the middle of the season. Miller is now swimming with the Dolphins at Jacksonville University, Taylor stayed close to home with Miami University, Bruschuk – who didn’t play at all last season – went to Marist, and Bugajski went back to her home state of Wisconsin to play for NCAA Division II school Wisconsin-Parkside. Azzara transferred to the University of South Carolina, but quit playing basketball altogether and became a member of the school’s Zeta Tau Alpha fraternity.
Hoffman returns three starters in Claire Henson, Olivia Brown and Lauren Scott. Other key returners include Rylee Sagester and Chloe Chard Peloquin. In addition, they have four new players: two transfers in Grace Okih and Breezie, and two freshmen in Elaina Rager and Maya Dilen.
Projected Starting Lineup
Brielle “Breezie” Williams, G (5-5, Sr.)
Williams went to GlenOak High School in Canton, Ohio, which is three hours and 13 minutes away in driving distance from the WSU campus. She is a guard who has shown that she can score the ball with back-to-back 20-point games against Stonehill and Yale. While Williams is also a good perimeter defender, she must improve her passing and outside shot. At Bryant, she played in 29 of 32 games (26 starts), averaging 9.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, and 1.1 spg last season.
“The cool thing about only needing a couple of players in the portal this year was we were able to just pinpoint what our exact needs were,” Hoffman said on what Williams will bring to the table. “We needed a playmaking point guard, and so we’re really excited about Breezie Williams. This is her fifth year of college basketball. She’s played a lot of meaningful minutes, she’s had the ball in her hands at meaningful times, and she can just make plays for herself and for others continuously. So, we’re really excited about how her style of play has kind of propelled our pace on both ends of the floor. She’s going to make a lot of plays this year, and it’s going to be exciting to see.”
Lauren Scott, G (5-7, Sr.)
Scott, nicknamed “Scotty” by her teammates, is the only member of Hoffman’s 2022 recruiting class who has stayed at WSU and is ready for one last rodeo. Although a knee injury kept her out for four games in November of last season, she still was able to have seven games of double-digit scoring, including back-to-back 14-point performances against Cleveland State and Grand Canyon. If Scotty can stay healthy and improve her overall game, the better off she will be.
Rylee Sagester, G (5-7, R-Soph.)
Sagester is another local product from West Alexandria, Ohio, which is about 40 minutes away from the campus. A left-handed sharpshooter, there were 15 games in which she hit at least one triple. During that time, Sagester also scored in double-figures four times. Her best game as a redshirt freshman came last December against Cleveland State in which she scored 24 points and shot 8-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Claire Henson, G (5-10, Sr.)
Henson is a local kid who was born and raised in Germantown, Ohio. She is one of three Raiders, alongside of Staton and Miller, to start every game last season. She put up career numbers all across the board and even put up a 22-point, nine-rebound statline against Tennessee State. However, she finished tied for sixth in the Horizon League with 68 turnovers and shot only 65 percent from the foul line. While Henson is definitely a starter again this year, she has to work on her foul shooting and committing fewer miscues.
“She’s going to get a lot of opportunity, having the ball in her hands, making plays, being able to score at the rim, get to the free throw line, and I’m always encouraging her to take open threes,” Hoffman said. “That can be an area of growth for her, she leaves a lot of those open shots out there and just wants to attack. But a great downhill attacker, a great offensive rebounder, can make plays in a crowd. She can really extend the floor defensively as well, picking off steals, and going the full length of the floor. Just excited about her production going to the next level. I think she can do that with a lot more opportunity, that she’s going to get in kind of a faster pace game that we’re trying to implement on both sides of the floor.”
Chloe Chard Peloquin, F (6-3, Sr.)
Nicknamed “CCP” by her teammates, Chard Peloquin was a solid big last season despite missing three games due to a lower leg injury. She recorded five blocks in the first half at Detroit Mercy before scoring a career-high 13 points at Oakland. Now, with Staton gone, Chard Peloquin has a chance to be Hoffman’s top big, especially with her textbook midrange jumper.
Returning Players
Ellie Magestro-Kennedy, G (5-9, R-Soph.)
Magestro-Kennedy, nicknamed “EMK” on TikTok, is one of three Wisconsin kids on the roster and had a solid first year in a green and gold uniform. With her shooting ability, she reached double-figures three times, including a career-high of 15 points against Georgia Southern.
Abbie Riddle, G (5-10, R-Soph.)
After transferring from Bowling Green and sitting out eight games with an injury, Riddle was a part of the rotation with her ability to rebound and space the floor. Her breakout game came against Youngstown State when she scored a career-high 11 points off the bench. This season, she plans to make it a tough “Riddle” for the opposition to solve.
Olivia Brown, G (5-7, Jr.)
Brown was inserted into the starting lineup following Scott’s injury back in November and then got reinserted back into the lineup in January over Taylor, mainly because Brown has a solid overall game and has shown the ability to pass the ball, eventually becoming the team’s assist leader with 83 total dimes. Brown’s career-high of 10 assists came at Oakland, while her other career-high of eight points came against Youngstown State. But this fall, Brown has been in a battle with Williams for the starting point guard position.
Florrie Cotterill, F (6-2, Soph.)
The majority of Cotterill’s minutes came during the time of Chard Peloquin’s injury or when Peloquin and Staten were in foul trouble, but Cotterill made the most of her minutes when she scored eight points off the bench against Florida Atlantic. Let’s see what the English bulldog can do this time around.
MaKenzie Drout, G (5-9, R-Soph.)
Drout had to redshirt last season after tearing an ACL during practice last fall, but the Appalachian State transfer is looking to stay healthy and make an impact.
The Other New Faces
Grace Okih is a 6-2 power forward hailing from Nigeria and is a transfer from Incarnate Word who brings size to Hoffman’s 2025-26 roster, but she didn’t play at all last season. While playing on the JUCO level with Jacksonville College, she averaged a double-double as a sophomore (10.4 ppg, 11.9 rpg) and ranked 12th in the entire NJCAA in rebounding. It’ll be interesting to see if Okih can bring that same energy to the NCAA Division I level.
Elaina Rager is a 5-9 guard and a native of Petaconica, IL. Shewas the first incoming freshman that Hoffman signed back in November. After signing with WSU, Rager led Pecatonica High School to an Illinois High School Association Class 1A State Championship in her senior year and graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer (male or female) with 2,182 points.
Maja Dilen is a 5-11 wing who hails from Sweden and was announced as the second new freshman recruit back in June. While Dilen averaged just 1.2 points and 7.7 minutes in 18 games for the Norrkoping Dolphins of the Damligan League, having her on the collegiate game may help her improve her overall game.
Outlook
With a non-conference schedule filled with some homecomings and familiar foes from last season, it’s gonna determine the team’s attitude and confidence when Horizon League play arrives in December. Wright State plans on upping their win total from last season, but they’re going tohave to find way to maintain the energy with only three bigs to work with. However, Hoffman doesn’t seem worried. “I think for four years now, they have seen a team that just plays extremely hard in any moment in any game,” she stated. “I’m really proud of that. As far as our culture goes, I think they’ll continue to see that. I am hopeful that level of competitiveness and grit on the floor is going to turn in some early wins and hopefully walk into every single Horizon League gym that we play in and putting a really good brand of basketball on the floor every night.”
Preview Week 2025-26
MBB: Preseason Poll | Preseason All-League | Preseason Awards
WBB: Preseason Poll | Preseason All-League | Preseason Awards
Cleveland State (MBB | WBB) | Detroit Mercy (MBB | WBB) | Green Bay (MBB | WBB) | IU Indy (MBB | WBB)
Milwaukee (MBB | WBB) | Northern Kentucky (MBB | WBB) | Oakland (MBB | WBB) | Purdue Fort Wayne (MBB | WBB)
Robert Morris (MBB | WBB) | Wright State (MBB | WBB) | Youngstown State (MBB | WBB)
