The Brockport Golden Eagles Women’s Basketball squad had a lot of change heading into the 2025-2026 season including the loss of five seniors who all garnered playing time along with a new-look coaching staff. But that didn’t matter for the Golden Eagles as for the second year in a row, Brockport proved that the Golden Eagles are a power house in the Empire 8. 

In Brockport’s first season in the Empire 8 in 2024, the Golden Eagles had their best season yet under head coach Corinne Jones with a 24-5 overall record and 15-1 record in conference play. With the record, it gave the Golden Eagles their first NCAA DIII Tournament bid since 2009.

Brockport built off of last year this season with an 18-8 overall record and a 14-2 record in Empire 8 play. The two losses in conference play came at the hands of the experienced Nazareth Golden Flyers, once at home and on the road. The rest of the Golden Eagles losses came in out of conference play that only got them prepared for the E8 portion of the season. 

The Golden Eagles finished 10-3 at home and 8-5 on the road. After starting conference play 2-1 in the beginning of January, Brockport garnered an eight-game win streak and ended the regular season with 12 wins in its last 13 outings. 

Brockport finished the regular season as the second seed in the Empire 8, but fell in the quarterfinals to No. 7 Elmira 76-71 as the Golden Eagles season came to an abrupt end. Despite the loss, the Golden Eagles are 29-3 overall in the regular season against the E8 while 2-2 in the postseason. 

“I think reflecting on this season we found leaders and we continued to grow and develop even with the loss of our old heads,” Jones said. “I don’t know if we ever peaked and that’s okay. I think that was the biggest lesson and in sports, seasons don’t always end the way you want them too but it’s the journey that matters and I’m proud of our young women for finding their voice, becoming leaders and great followers.”

Every basketball team needs captains; and leading the way for Brockport this year were senior guards Stephanie Jean-Baptiste and Mandy Brink. The two filled in the shoes of leaders Shannon Blankenship, Anna Lee, Cam Tooley, Kaileigh Hunt and Harmony Philo who all graduated last year. 

Jean-Baptiste led the way for the Golden Eagles with an Empire 8-high 19.0 points per game (PPG) while shooting 45% from the field. To go along with that, the senior averaged 6.0 rebounds per game (RPG), 2.0 assists per game (APG) and 2.3 steals per game (SPG).

The highlight of Jean-Baptiste’s season came on Feb. 7, 2026 at St. John Fisher. In a 91-84 victory for Brockport, SJB dropped a career-high 41 points on 15-for-19 shooting from the field. The scoring performance broke a 46-year old program record set by Lisa Diaz back on Nov. 12, 1980 when she scored 39 points against the University of Rochester. 

With the Empire 8 leading stat line and record breaking game, the Empire 8 recognized Jean-Baptiste as the Player of the Year for 2026 and named her to the All-Conference First Team. It caps off a historic career for the senior who garnered SUNYAC Rookie of the Year (22-23), SUNYAC Second-Team (23-24), Empire 8 First-Team and Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year (24-25). Throughout her four-year tenure, SJB notched 1,578 points (15.8 PPG), 450 rebounds (4.5 RPG), 194 steals (1.9 SPG) and 161 assists (1.6 APG).

“It’s like a full circle moment earning Player of the Year,” Jean-Baptiste said. “Being able to come here and have a consistent four years here and not just flopping after my freshman season when I got Rookie of the Year. Like, I could have just chilled out and thought I was like that or something, but no, I kept working and stayed focused. For me to grind and get that my last year here, it means a lot to me.”

Brink took over as the facilitator of the Golden Eagles who did it all on the offensive and defensive ends. The junior in her final year averaged 13.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 3.0 APG and 2.2 SPG. Brink led the team in steals along with Jean-Baptiste with 58 and earned a spot on the Empire 8 All-Conference Second Team, the first of her career. In her three years as a Golden Eagle, Brink finished with 9.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.8 APG and 1.3 SPG. 

“I always knew she had it within her,” Jones said. “For her it was that balance of friend, teammate and leader and I think for young people that’s really hard in finding that balance. I think the light bulb for her went off about midseason and she responded with a great stretch in the last 12-13 games.”  

To go along with Jean-Baptiste and Brink, another Brockport starter in Claire Turner will be graduating with the duo. The forward averaged 4.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 1.1 SPG throughout her two-year career. With three starters leaving the squad in the spring, Coach Jones looks to the next in line to take over this squad including sophomores Peyton Maneri and Jackie Kozakiewicz. 

“Jackie and Peyton were in what we call our ‘Leadership Nest’ so they were in training this year learning from Mandy and Madison (Misser),” Jones said. “So Peyton and Jackie have already done the leadership work, the behind-the-scenes and are ready for next season. You got to want to do it and I know that they do.”

Another player looking to do more damage next year is junior guard Brianna Carey. The transfer from DII Caldwell University had an instant impact in her inaugural season as a Golden Eagle averaging 11.8 PPG on 43% shooting along with 3.0 RPG, 2.0 APG and 2.0 SPG. Carey also received a spot on the Empire 8 All-Conference Second Team with her season. 

“Bri [Carey] I’m just really proud of,” Jones said. “I recruited Bri at a high-level out of Shenendehowa High School and she broke my heart when she decided to go DII, but that’s life. Thankfully, some people don’t like the transfer portal, but it works for us here at Brockport and when I saw her name go in I knew we had to get her. I’ve been excited and happy for her, I’m not surprised that she did what she did. She’s a very good basketball player and loves basketball again. She found her comfort here, she’s part of it, wants to own it and win a lot of games next year.” 

To go along with new leaders, there was also a group of first years who got more playing time than others before. First years Addy VanDewater, Ava Howie and Lila Lovgren all played pivotal roles off the bench for Brockport this season that will only prepare them for the next. 

“I think they played a lot and when you leave high school and you start and play all of those minutes, you’re used to that. But, at the collegiate level, you don’t see first years getting in a ton and what I tried to tell all three of them this year was you earned your time and you’re getting in there,” Jones said. “It’s never as much as we want, but what those three don’t know that they will next year is that, this time is valuable and now they have experience and they will be that much better into the next. Howie is a talented scorer, you can’t teach that. VanDewater handled the ball very well and was a clutch three-point shooter and Lovgren is a great shooter and fits what we do. They have always fought hard for us.” 

Despite a first round playoff loss, this season for the Golden Eagles can not go unnoticed. On the year, Brockport was at the top in the Empire 8 in multiple categories including scoring offense (2nd: 75.2 PPG), three-pointers made (2nd: 197), free throw percentage (1st: 74%), combined rebounds (2nd: 44.0 per game), offensive rebounds (2nd: 14.0 per game), turnover margin (2nd: 6.0), assists (3rd: 15.7 per game) and steals (1st: 348/13.0 per game). 

To go along with that multiple Golden Eagles found themselves in the top 10 of various Empire 8 statistical categories including:

PPG: Jean-Baptiste (1st), Brink (10th)

FG%: SJB (6th), Carey (9th)

FT%: SJB (6th), Brink (9th)

RPG: Turner (6th)

APG: Maneri (3rd), Brink (8th)

Blocks: Turner (3rd)

Steals: SJB & Brink (5th), Carey (10th), Maneri (11th)

Brockport did this with a whole new coaching staff as well. With the departure of long-time assistant Scott Foster who took on the head coaching job of Buffalo State Women’s Basketball, Jones looked to former Golden Eagles to help on the staff including Hunt, Philo and Zairea Hannah. 

“My hope is that we can return as many staff members as we can,” Jones said. “I thought that all four of them (Hunt, Hannah, Philo and Dyamond Hunter) as a coaching staff just brought loyalty, hard work and competitiveness just knowing me and knowing the program. They were great fits and they all have different personalities so they all relate to the players in different ways and it says a lot that they want to come back and work so hard for the program they played for.”  

Finally, for Brockport there is never an off season, just a grind season as preparation for Team 51 is already underway.

“We’re looking at the bigger picture of ‘sustained excellence’,” Jones said. “For us it’s about, we got this regular season thing down, we’re placing ourselves in a great spot. For three years in a row we’ve played a home game in the playoffs and when I took the job over 11 years ago I never would have seen that. Now, I’m still here and now it’s about maintaining that consistency of excellence in the regular season and it’s when we do the work and place ourselves in a great position to host, what’s next for us? The word people are saying is a ‘comeback’, but I think it’s more along the lines of ‘revenge’. This season, Team 50 didn’t end the way we wanted and now we know we have to take every single game and every single opponent seriously and we have to play every game in front of us.”

The season didn’t end the way Team 50 wanted it too, but the culture keeps building. After two dominant seasons in the Empire 8, Brockport is ready to break through the ceiling and win an Empire 8 Championship with Team 51.