MATC unveils 2026 women’s basketball class under Samantha Doucette

MATC unveiled its 2026 women’s basketball recruiting class on Aug. 6, putting first-year coach Samantha Doucette at the front of a roster rebuild that could reshape the Stormers’ next NJCAA run. The athletics department posted the class at 10:32 a.m., and the rollout used the same signing-day look programs now lean on to turn recruiting into a public event.

The headliners tell the story of what MATC is trying to add. Alanna Benoit was identified as the No. 2 basketball prospect in the class being promoted, a ranking that gives the Stormers an immediate talent marker. Malanie Francis, listed at 6-foot-5, comes from Mandeville, Jamaica, and gives MATC a true interior body around the rim. In junior-college basketball, that mix matters: high-end perimeter talent can bend a defense, while a legitimate post presence changes rebounding and shot-blocking from day one.

The post also showed the class was not a two-player headline act. A photo in the 2026-27 recruiting package carried the name Teshaya Anderson, and the department identified the group as the 2026-27 women’s basketball recruiting class. That points to a broader cycle of roster turnover, not just a splash addition or two. For an NJCAA program, one class can be the difference between staying in the middle of the pack and making a real push up the conference ladder.

Doucette’s arrival frames the timing. MATC named her head coach on July 20 and sold the move as the beginning of a new era for the women’s program. Her background at Anoka-Ramsey Community College gives the hire a track record: the Golden Rams bio says she was entering her fifth season on the sideline in 2026-27, and she served as interim head coach in 2022-23 while guiding Anoka-Ramsey to a 23-10 record.

MATC’s 2026 class therefore reads as a reset with intent. The Stormers are not only changing coaches, they are trying to define the program’s competitive timeline around size, ranking cachet and a recruiting reach that stretches to Jamaica. The roster page already lists Doucette as head coach, and the public unveiling suggests the Stormers want the market to see the rebuild before the first ball is tipped.