When the Florida Tech women's basketball team takes the floor on Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. against South Carolina-Beaufort at the Clemente Center, they will do so with a confidence and defiance. The 2025-26 season saw the Panthers improve their win total by three both overall and in Sunshine State Conference play. They also returned to the SSC Tournament for the first time since 2021. That hasn't caught the attention of the rest of the SSC just yet, as the Panthers were ranked ninth in the conference's preseason poll, but they're planning on doing that over the next four months.
 
"I think everyone on the team could say for certain that the ranking they gave us was extremely disrespectful," says senior forward Deirdre Miller. "And we are going to prove everyone in that room wrong."
 
Second-year head coach Ashley Raley-Ross has spent the past 18 months instilling into her players what the values and attributes of her program should be. Now, with a full season and offseason under their belts, the questions have turned into understanding, and the team hit the ground running during fall practice, fully in tune into what their coach expects of them. Not only that, but with wins over a pair of NCAA Tournament teams last season in addition to taking #1 seed Eckerd to the brink in the conference tournament, they have proof that it can work.
 
"I think we've built off of how together the team was last year. I think our culture is intact," says Raley-Ross. "If anything, I feel like it's increased. Our returners take a great deal of pride in dominating the details and having high standards and they don't slip. That's kind of been our thing. Basketball-wise, we're rebounding really well, and we're defending pretty well. So, we have room for improvement, but they're doing they're doing the little things in those areas, and those things win championships."
 
One of the most critical parts to the 2026-27 season for the Panthers will be its brand new backcourt. The three primary ballhandlers from last season moved on but the Crimson and Gray are ready to meet that need with three newcomers: redshirt freshman Despy Baltzi, true freshman Greta Scholle and redshirt junior Mak Snyder.
 
"I think we're going to build off the things that we had last year within our system," says Raley-Ross. "This year's system is molded around what we do well because this team's a little bit different, so I think more up and down, more reads, and sharing the ball. We have Despy, who is extremely quick, very fast. We have Mak, who is very structured, very disciplined, very smart, and then Greta has a really high IQ and likes to involve all her teammates."
 
With those three players being the primary ballhandlers, the plan is for the Crimson and Gray to play with a much-increased tempo than in recent seasons.
 
"I think that's the way we're always looking to play, no matter who the opponent is," says Snyder, a transfer from South Carolina-Aiken. "We want it to be a fast game where we push up the court and get a bucket, but it's controlled pace. I think we do it so much in practice, and we've ingrained that from the beginning. We're the most conditioned team out here, so we're gonna run them, but it's gonna be still at our pace and under control."
 
"Coach Ashley really did recruit people who could run well in transition, who can tunnel the point guard all the way down," says Miller. "So, you'll see a lot of that, especially offensively when we're driving and cutting, and I think the energy is a big, big difference from last year."
 
The Panthers' top returning scorer from last season is red shirt senior forward Elif Bayrak, who averaged 12.6 points per game in her first season in Melbourne while hitting 64 three-pointers. While she may have caught the SSC by surprise in 2025-26, she knows she will be the focus of many an opposing defense this season. With that in mind, she's spent the offseason not just sharpening her shooting but every facet of her game.
 
"Elif's been in the gym, I'm really proud of her because she's expanded her game," says Raley-Ross. "So, while she might be on everyone that we've played last year's and everyone that looks at the stat sheet and box score's scouting report, she's worked on her game. Elif also worked on her leadership skills and the little things, but I think everyone will benefit from her ability to stretch the floor."
 
One of those that has benefited from the spacing that the Panthers are growing is Miller, who, after not attempting a three-pointer during her first two seasons in the Crimson and Gray, led the team in three-point percentage last season on 46 attempts.
 
"It kind of went from 'Hey you can shoot,' to now 'You're a shooter, this is who you are. You need to trust that because I trust you,' and I feel completely different from last year, I don't even know how to explain it," says Miller. "If you asked me four years ago where I thought I'd be, I was a post in high school. Being this completely different person, I love it, and I love that Coach trusts me, and I think that translates. My team trusts me, and I know because of that, I can do what I need to do."
 
Bayrak's ability to hit shots regularly from the outside will also help the new backcourt, who can be assured of a safety valve of sorts.
 
"I know I have full confidence in her that if I get that to her, she's gonna shoot that, knock that down," says Snyder. "And I want her to shoot it every time, even if she's missed. If I'm driving and I'm about to get smothered with defense, I know that I have a shooter out there that I can trust. I'm gonna get it to them and trust them to knock it down. That makes it fun because I know she's gonna be there. She knows I'm gonna drive in and kick it out to her."
 
While the new-look offense may be what potentially catches eyes this season, the foundation to Tech's success remains firmly rooted on the defensive end.
 
"We say defense wins championships," says senior center Amanda Ogbonna. "So, everybody's embodying, embracing defense and just making our defense lead our offense."
 
The second half of last season saw the Panthers turn in several outstanding defensive performances that earned them critical wins to get them into the SSC Tournament. The players will tell you there's no true secret sauce to great defensive performance.
 
"It's an energy thing, an attitude," says Ogbonna, Tech's leading rebounder in 2025-26. "You've just got to know I'm going to go out there and personally say 'I'm not going to let my girl score,' and if we all embody that same mindset, then we'll get stops as a team."
 
One thing that is very apparent when talking with both the roster and coaching staff: this is a team that not only expects to improve again but has full conviction in what they're doing. Having put in the work on their own since the spring and as a team over the past month, there's a shared understanding in what's expected of each other in what it will take to improve their record again this season. That work, understanding and chemistry has given the team a confidence that they can and will do just that.
 
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