Head Coach Mike Drahos' Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball squad, coming off of its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament berth since 2013-14, has been picked to finish fourth in the nine-team PSAC Western Division when the 2019-20 conference Preseason Coach's Poll was released on Thursday.

 Kutztown and IUP have been tabbed the favorites in the Eastern and Western Division, respectively, in the 2019-20 PSAC Preseason Poll.

Led by 2018-19 First-Team All-PSAC West selection Gabrielle Smith and Second-Team All-PSAC West choice Alli McGrath, Pitt-Johnstown returns four starters and a total of eight upperclassmen from last year's team that finished at 13-16 overall and 9-12 in conference-play.

Smith, a senior guard/forward, led Pitt-Johnstown in scoring (19.4 ppg.), rebounding (7.1 rpg.), total assists (70) and total steals (36). McGrath finished her first year in the program after playing two seasons at Division I University of Maryland-Baltimore County as the team's second leading scorer (17.3 ppg.) and fourth leading rebounder (5.3 rpg.).

Senior point guard Maurina Nunn and junior forward Maddie Shanahan join Smith and McGrath as returning starters for Coach Drahos.  Senior Nicole Olkosky, who has starting experience, looks to rejoin the starting lineup after being limited to 19 games in 2018-19.  In those games, Olkosky averaged 5.6 points and was Pitt-Johnstown's second-leading rebounder at 6.5 rpg.  Her 47 blocked shots led the team and ranked fourth in the PSAC.
 
Along with the four starters coming back, Coach Drahos also has experienced depth at both the guard and forward positions. Senior guard Katie Bolden will wrap-up her Pitt-Johnstown career as one of the hardest workers in program history, and junior guards Mia Oterson and Ashley Dean gained experience and provided Coach Drahos with solid contributions off the bench the last two seasons.

Pitt-Johnstown will play an exhibition game against the University of Pittsburgh on November 1 at the Petersen Events Center, before opening the 2019-20 season against Virginia State University and Fayetteville State (NC) University at the Shepherd (WV) Tip-Off Classic on November 8 and 9.  Pitt-Johnstown will open its home schedule with a non-conference game against Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University on November 16 at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center.