PITTSBURG - The Pittsburg State University women's basketball team is set to begin the 2026-27 season on the road against the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Lady Bulldogs, Monday (Nov. 9) in Weatherford, Okla.

Tip off against SWOSU is set for 5:30 p.m. (CT) from the Pioneer Event Center.

Head Coach Amanda Davied
Entering her ninth year as head coach of her alma mater, Davied owns a 166-73 (.695) record. During her tenure as head coach, she has guided the Gorillas to the Division II National Tournament four times (2025-23 & 2019) with her debut season marking the first coach in program history to guide the Gorillas to a 20-win season. Following the 2024-25 season, Davied was named the MIAA and KBCA Four Year College Coach of the Year after helping lead the Gorillas to a 33-4 overall record and a NCAA Division II Final Four appearance after claiming the MIAA regular season, MIAA Tournament and Central Region Tournament championships. Davied has deep ties to the program first as a player (1999-03), graduate assistant (2003-04) and assistant coach (2004-18) while serving as the lead assistant from 2007-18 for current Division I, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), head coach Lane Lord.

A Peek at the Gorillas
Pittsburg State was tabbed sixth in the MIAA Preseason Coach Poll (Oct. 6) following an 18-11 overall record in 2025-26. Returning from last seasons team are eight letterwinners, four of which were starters and two being All-MIAA performers. Marin Adams and Ja'Miya Brown were named as All-MIAA honorable mentions last season alongside the graduated Harper Schreiner, Adams finished the season as the team leader for scoring with 354 points (12.2) while Brown finished second on the team with 330 points (12.2) while making a team-high 45 three pointers at .375. Clara Swearingen is back to provide veteran leadership and be a consistent presence on the court after averaging 8.7 points and 1.6 assists a game. Kaycee McCumber enjoyed on of the better rebounding seasons in Pitt State history last season, averaging 9.9 rebounds (278) a night while adding in 8.6 points at a .500 shooting percentage from the field. Cambrie Phillips gained valuable experience in her first collegiate season where in 15.4 minutes she averaged 5.2 points and 2.5 rebounds while making 27 three pointers at .370. Amanda Byrnes in her first season wearing the Crimson and Gold averaged 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds a night in 12.6 minutes, shooting .568 from the field and coming away with a team-high 21 blocks. (Lola) Karolina Kiraga finished the season averaging 2.5 points and 1.0 assists a game, while shooting .512 from the field. Marie Wembadjonga in 8.7 minutes a game averaged 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 points, while knocking down .462 of her shots from the field. New to team for this season is Anaiyah Fletcher, Charley Rawlins, Jessi Yarbrough and Landri Schaffer. Fletcher began her collegiate career at the University of North Dakota (DI) where she was a member of the Fighting Hawks teams in 2024-25 and 2025-26. Rawlins is a freshman from Fayetteville, Ark., where she prepped at Fayettevill High and averaged 12 points a game while shooting .401 from behind the arc in her career. Yarbrough is a freshman from Dallas, Texas where she scored over 1,000 career points for the Dallas Home School Athletic Association, helping them claim the 2025-26 National Christian HomeSchool 18U National Championship. Schaffer is from Gardner, Kan., where she prepped at Gardner Edgerton High School and set school records for career three pointers, steals, free throw percentage and points scored.

Sharp Shooters
Pittsburg State had five members of the team convert on 25 or more three pointers last season with a trio of Gorillas finishing the season shooting above .315 from distance. Ja'Miya Brown led the team with 45 makes from distance and a .375 shooting percentage, Clara Swearingen was second on the team for makes with 41 and third for percentage at .320. Marin Adams and the graduated Harper Schreiner made 29 shots at .296 with Cambrie Phillips making 27 three pointers at a .370 percentage, the second best percentage on the team.

Brown's Continued Emergence
Coming into 2025-26, Ja'Miya Brown in 39 career games as an underclassmen scored 60 points (1.5) and collected 28 rebounds (0.7) in 285 minutes of action (7.3). By the end of the 2025-26 season, Brown scored 330 points (12.2) and grabbed 121 rebounds (4.5) in 692 minutes (25.6) while shooting .375 from behind the arc and .723 from free throws. Brown set new career highs for every statistical category during the 2025-26 season which including scoring 36 points against Western Colorado (Dec. 20). Against WCU, Brown finished going 7-of-13 from behind the arc, her scoring total and amount of made three pointers are tied for the fourth best in a game in PSU history. By the end of the 2025-26 season, Brown had scored 20 or more points in seven games after never scoring in double-figures previously in her collegiate career.

Freshman - Sophomore Jump
As a freshman in 2024-25, Clara Swearingen was part of the Final Four team for the Gorillas and saw limited action off the bench (7.1 MPG) while adding 52 points (1.9), nine rebounds (0.3) and 11 assists (0.4). In 2025-26, the Nevada, Mo., native was a key member of the starting unit with 253 points (8.7), 72 rebounds (2.5) and 47 assists (1.6) in 29.9 minutes of action a game. Swearingen came away with a career-high 20 points against Angelo State (Nov. 30), to account for one of 11 games she finished in double figure for points in a game.

Rebounds Galore
Kaycee McCumber enjoyed one of the best rebounding seasons in Pitt State history in 2025-26, finishing with 278 rebounds (9.9). The Farmington, Ark., native tied a school record with 22 boards against No. 6 Fort Hays State (Feb. 21) while adding in 16 points for her eighth and final double-double of the season. Among PSU season ranks, McCumber's season totals for rebounds and rebounds per game are good for the best best totals in PSU history. Among Pitt State ranks for double-doubles in a season, McCumber's total of eight is a freshman record and is the seventh-most in a season in program history. For the season, McCumber recorded double digit rebounding totals in 14 games and finished 12 games in double figures for scoring.

Trio of International Rillas
The trio of Anaiyah Fletcher (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada), Karolina Kiraga (Wistka, Poland) and Marie Wembadjonga (Libreville, Gabon) have taken unique paths to end up in Pittsburg, Kan.. Flethcer prepped at the Bond Academy in Ontario before beginning her collegiate career at Division I, University of North Dakota. Kiraga prepped at Procidence Classical Christian Academy in Rogers, Ark., before beginning her collegiate career in 2025-26 with the Gorillas. Wembadjonga played at the Lycee Joseph Ambouroue Avaro Secondary School in Gabon before beginning her collegiate career at Chipola College (2023-24) and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO) (2024-25) before being a member of the Gorillas 2025-26 squad.

From Colorado To Kansas
Amanda Byrnes is entering her second season in the Pitt State program after beginning her collegiate career at Metropolitan State University - Denver. The Brighton, Colo., native in two seasons at MSU - Denver, played in 51 games for the Roadrunners with six starts while amassing 153 points, 143 rebounds and 29 blocks in 12.9 minutes a game. In 2025-26 for the Gorillas, Byrnes started in two-of-27 games she appeared in where in 339 minutes (12.6) she collected 125 points (4.6), 91 rebounds (3.4) and a team-high 21 blocks (0.8). Came away with a season-high 15 points against St. Mary's (Kan.) (Dec. 15) and Newman (Jan. 8). Corralled a season-high eight rebounds against Central Oklahoma (Dec. 4) and came away with a season-high five blocks against Northwestern Oklahoma (Nov. 20).

Six Gems
Pittsburg State features six players who played high school basketball in the state of Arkansas. Marin Adams, Ja'Miya Brown, Karolina Kiraga, Kaycee McCumber, Cambrie Phillips and Charley Rawlins. Adams prepped at Farmington High School alongside McCumber, with the duo recording three straight Arkansas State Championships (4A for 2023 & 2024, 5A in 2025) to end their high school careers. Brown prepped at North Little Rock High School while Kiraga played at Providence Classical Christian Academy in Rogers. Phillips prepped at Bentonville High School and the first-year Gorilla, Rawlins played at Fayetteville High School. 

History With SWOSU
In the all-time series against Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Pittsburg State is 4-3 overall with a 1-1 record in games played in Pittsburg, Kan., and Weatherford, Okla. In the last meeting between the two teams, Pittsburg State claimed a 67-47 win (Nov. 11, 2023) in Shawnee, Okla., behind a 21-point game from Grace Pyle. Jenna Shipley added in 16 points in 19 minutes on the court with Harper Schreiner coming away with 12 rebounds and five assists. The last time the two teams played in Weatherford would be Nov. 13, 2021 when SWOSU claimed a 79-54 win over the Gorillas.

The SWOSU Report
Tabbed to finish third in the Great American Conference (GAC) Coaches Poll (Oct. 29), the Lady Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma are coming off a 12-15 overall record that saw them go 10-12 in GAC play. Back from 2025-26 are eight players with the three leading scorers headling the returners. Landry Allen finished last season with 385 points to lead the team with 15.4 points a night while chipping in with 169 rebounds for 6.8 a game. Allen finished as one of two members of the team to reach 30 made three pointers on the season with 32 and finished as the team leader for three point percentage at .317. Sincere Jackson finished the season averaging 12.6 points and 6.5 rebounds a game while shooting .460 from the field and .756 from free throws. Elle Papahronis finished last season as the team leader for rebounds (194) and rebounds per game (8.1) while adding in 272 points (11.3) and made a team-high 87-of-155 from the charity stripe (.561). As a team, SWOSU averaged 62.6 points a game while allowing opponents to score 64.0 points. The Lady Bulldogs converted on .376 of their shots from the field, .287 from distance and .695 from the free throw line while grabbing 38.3 rebounds a game and coming away with 9.3 steals a night.