With two preseason all-conference players on the roster, this may be the year that the Georgia State women make a move in the competitive Sun Belt Conference.
The Panthers picked to finish eighth in the 14-team conference, open the season Monday at Akron in the Sun Belt-MAC Challenge. After a game at Georgia Tech on Nov. 8, Georgia State will have its home opener Nov. 10 against Berry.
Senior Mikyla Tolivert and sophomore Crystal Henderson were named to the Sun Belt’s preseason first team. They will be the blocks around which the team is constructed.
Tolivert averaged 14.3 points, tops on the team, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and two steals. Her free-throw percentage (80.7) was the third-best in program history.
“If you look at Mikyla, her trajectory, it’s about doing it the right way and how it should be,” coach Gene Hill said. “Each year she’s added a dimension to her game. This past year with her 3-point shot improvement.”
Henderson, the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year last season, started all 30 games and averaged 11.4 points and 4.7 assists. Her 136 assists ranked fourth in the Sun Belt.
“We knew when we were recruiting her that she was very talented,” Hill said. “We had big expectations, and she lived up to them. Now we’ve challenged her to take that next step, and she’s been working hard. She’s staying after practicing, coming in on off-days, to make sure she continues to improve and develop her game.”
Hill also brought in four graduate seniors to provide experience and depth: guard Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu, forward Eden Johnson, forward Mahogany Matthews and guard Clara Rosini.
“We wanted to make sure we brought some kids in who we felt like had some experience,” Hill said. “Kids who could come in and contribute immediately.”
Robinson-Nwagwu played 27 games last season as Central Florida, averaged 4.6 points and shot 43.6% from the field. A graduate of Norcross High School, she played two seasons at Auburn and two seasons at Gulf Coast State before moving to UCF.
Johnson played 106 games over four seasons at Georgia Southern. Last season she averaged 6.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.13 blocks, second-most in the Sun Belt.
Matthews spent five seasons at Marshall, including two redshirt seasons, after starting her career at Ole Miss. She was a member of last season’s team that won the Sun Belt Conference. She averaged 8.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2023-24.
Rosini, a native of Italy, played the past three seasons at McNeese State after transferring from Eastern Kentucky. She started 16 games for McNeese last season, averaging 3.7 points and was third on the team with 128 rebounds.
“They bring some toughness, and they really allow us to be able to change our style of play,” Hill said. “I think we will be a lot more versatile in that front court.”
The Panthers will host their annual GSU Thanksgiving Tournament on Nov. 26-28. The other teams in the field will be Campbell, Furman and Purdue-Fort Wayne. The season’s schedule also includes games at Georgia on Nov. 14 and at Alabama on Dec. 2.
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