Bruins picked sixth in Frontier Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll
2025-26 Roster
2025-26 Schedule
HELENA, Mont. -- The Bellevue University women's basketball team has been selected to finish sixth in their inaugural season in the Frontier Conference.
Dakota State was the unanimous choice to win the 12-team league, earning 11 first place votes – coaches could not vote for their own team – and 121 total points. Carroll and Rocky Mountain were tied for second in the poll with 101 points apiece while Providence (91) and Montana Tech (81) rounded out the top five with Tech collecting the final first place vote.
Bellevue collected 68 points to take sixth in the preseason poll, followed by MSU Northern (58), Valley City State (55), Mayville State (37), Dickinson State (35), Montana Western (32), and Bismarck State (12).
The Bruins' top three returners from last year's team are junior forwards Kaylee Denker (9.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and Zakiyyah Muhammad (6.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and sophomore guard Dru Zoucha (5.1 ppg, 29 3-fg).
Other returners to appear in the majority of games last season for BU are senior guard Emma Russell and sophomore forward Danielle Coyer. Also returning are sophomore guards Mailey Malone and Anna Long along with sophomore forward Jay Barrett.
Bellevue welcomes a mix of seven newcomers into the fold for the 2025-26 season, four junior college transfers and a trio of freshmen.
From the junior college ranks, BU welcomes guards Jhanel Coleman (Rock Valley College/Machesney Park, Ill.) and Drasoni Kyles (Mount San Jacinto College/Moreno Valley, Calif.), point guard Karoline Ellison (Victor Valley CC/Victorville, Calif.), and guard/forward Joy Beran (Des Moines Area CC/Lime Springs, Iowa).
Guard/forward Brylee Meier (Hayden Catholic HS/Topeka, Kan.), center Tarryn Godsey (Nebraska City HS/Nebraska City, Neb.), and guard Taylee Wharton (Bellevue West HS/Papillion, Neb.) comprise this year's freshman class.
Head coach Dave Denly returns for his 10th season in charge of the Bruins. Last season coach Denly surpassed the 500-win plateau for his career and has gone 154-115 at Bellevue with a pair of conference regular season titles along with the 2019 NSAA Tournament Crown and a bid to the 2019 NAIA National Tournament.
The top eight teams in the regular season advance to the Frontier Conference tournament, hosted by Montana Tech at Civic Center in Butte. The four-day conference tournament begins with a pair of quarterfinals on Friday, Feb. 27 (12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time) and Saturday, Feb. 28 (12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time), followed by the semifinals on Sunday, March 1 (12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time), and the championship game on Monday, March 2 at 5 p.m. (Mountain Time).
As a 12-team league, the Frontier Conference will have two automatic bids for the NAIA Women's Basketball National Tournament, starting with the First and Second Rounds on March 13-14, 2026. The Opening Round winners advance to the Final Site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 19-24, 2026.
The first automatic berth will be awarded to the regular-season champion. The second berth will be awarded to the Frontier Conference Postseason Tournament Champion. In the event the regular-season champion is the tournament champion, then the second berth will be awarded to the regular-season runner-up.
Last season the Bruins posted a 15-13 overall mark and went 7-8 in NSAA play to earn the No. 4-seed and a first round home game in the conference tournament.
Bellevue opens the 2025-26 campaign on Saturday, Oct. 25 when they host College of Saint Mary for a noon tip-off inside the BU Fieldhouse.