By Dionte Daniel, Assistant Sports Editor

VSU’s women’s basketball team opens the 2026-27 season at home this weekend, returning an All-Gulf South Conference standout and welcoming several Division I transfers and freshmen expected to make an immediate impact.

The Lady Blazers will host Eckerd College on Friday at 6 p.m. and Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at The Complex in the South Region Crossover.

VSU will begin its third season under head coach Chandler Merkerson. The Lady Blazers finished 16-13 overall and 13-9 in Gulf South Conference play last year.

The Lady Blazers were predicted to finish sixth this season in the GSC coaches’ preseason poll. They have several veterans who can help them climb the conference standings.

Senior forward Erin Whalen will be one to watch this season. She returns after earning first-team All-GSC honors last year.

Whalen finished last season averaging 14 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, recording 11 double-doubles. She shot 44.1 percent from the field and led the conference with 70 steals.

She enters this season as a preseason All-GSC selection and one of the conference’s leading returning rebounders.

Junior forward Raeanne Eccleston will also return this season. Eccleston averaged 8.3 points and 4.3 rebounds, shooting 49.7 percent from the field last season. The 6-foot-3 forward also recorded 18 blocked shots and had a career-high 25 points against Montevallo.

Junior Amaya Broadus averaged 7.6 points and eight rebounds in eight games last season. Guard Ka’Miah Pryor also returns after averaging 6.4 points and three rebounds per game.

Four Division I transfers will join the Lady Blazers this season, including Madison Pounds from Hofstra and Monna Julkunen from Georgia State. Both were listed on the GSC preseason newcomers-to-watch list.

Long Beach State’s Tairat Samuel Afolabi and Mercer’s Aspen Johnson will also bring college experience to Merkerson’s squad.

Freshmen include Taylor Young, Vilma Eklund and Lauryn Dennis-Cooper. Young is a 6-foot-2 forward from Savannah who will add length to the Lady Blazers’ frontcourt. Eklund and Dennis-Cooper will round out the backcourt.

The team will have to fill the void left by former guard Aryana Hicks, who averaged 10.9 points and conference-leading 5.1 assists per game.

The Lady Blazers averaged 68.7 points per game and allowed 64.3 last season. They will need to find a way to score more this year.

Last season, the Lady Blazers beat Eckerd 66-58 and Palm Beach Atlantic 62-59.

These two games will give Merkerson a chance to see what the team has this season.