October 26, 2025
The Panthers women's basketball team has been known for being successful, with the program’s last losing season coming in the 2015-16 campaign when the team went 14-17. That standard did not change after the hiring of now head coach Chelsea Banbury in 2019. Banbury has led the team to six consecutive winning seasons, highlighted by winning the Big South Conference championship and appearing in the NCAA Tournament last season.
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This past season was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Panthers as they experienced highs and lows. The group ended the regular season finishing as conference champions for the second time in school history and punching another ticket to March Madness. However, that was short-lived as they went on to lose to William and Mary 69-63 in the first round of the tournament. That disappointment has turned into motivation for the group and made them work harder in hopes of a deeper run this season.
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“Success for us is having a successful day. That means film every day, shots every day, showing up to practice everyday. Success for us is just progressing if we’re not progressing then we’re not getting better,” assistant coach Katie Clayman said.
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With nine returning players Banbury has one of the more experienced rosters in the conference, providing the leadership and chemistry needed to compete with some of the top teams in the nation. Some of the familiar faces include Nevaeh Zavala, Chana Paxixe, Dakota Phillips and Aaliyah Collins. Zavala, who was a huge piece of the team's run, and continues to set the tone for the rest of the group. She was recently named the Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year.
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“They have great chemistry and we’ve brought in a couple transfers that bought into our system. When you have chemistry off the floor, you have chemistry on the floor so I think our team is really close this year,” Clayman said.
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The team hopes to continue its upward trajectory into a strong start, tipping off the season on Nov. 3 at Qubein Arena against Johnson C. Smith. HPU’s season opener will set the tone for what it believes is going to be another successful season.