PITMAN, N.J. – The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) released its 2021-22 preseason women's basketball poll today, Thursday, Oct. 28. The reigning champion New Jersey City University women's basketball team received a total of three of the 10 first place votes and was picked second out of the 10 teams.
 
Rowan University, which opted out of the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, received six of the 10 first-place votes and was picked to finish first in the preseason coaches poll. NJCU (3) and Montclair State University (1) received the other four first-place votes, as the two faced off in last season's championship game, with Jersey City emerging victorious for the first time in program history. The College of New Jersey and Kean University round out the preseason top five. See below for the full poll: 

1. Rowan (6)
2. NJCU (3)
3. Montclair State (1)
4. TCNJ
5. Kean
6. William Paterson University
7. Stockton University
8. Rutgers-Newark
9. Ramapo College
10. Rutgers-Camden

NJCU enters the season looking toward the guidance of 2020-21 NJAC Coach of the Year Pat Devaney, Sr., and Rookie of the Year and First Team All-NJAC selection sophomore team captain Damaris Rodriguez (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus). The former was also selected as the 2021 d3hoops.com All-Atlantic/Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, while the latter was named the region's Rookie of the Year, as well as selected to the First Team. The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) honored Rodriguez as the Division III Player of the Year – the first freshman to ever earn the honor – while Devaney was named Coach of the Year.
 
The Gothic Knights season kicks off officially in a couple weeks on Thursday night, Nov. 11, at 6:00 p.m. at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) against Saint Elizabeth University. Their NJAC slate begins, also at home, on Tuesday night, Nov. 23, at 6:00 p.m. against Rutgers-Newark.