Those definitely were great teams to watch.  Yes, Holinski played all 4 years.  MIT won the newmac her Junior and Senior year (my daughters Freshman and Sophomore year) and they actually went back to the finals her junior year but fell short to a strong Smith team. Holinski was an excellent player, but your right, she was surrounded by very good players.
Like you mentioned, to play at any of this extremely rigorous academic schools it is challenging.  Thats why I was such a big fan of how MIT did it, having ALL athletics practice at the same time. I always wondered if other schools did similar things to support student athletes.

Just thought I would chime in quick.  I know nothing about RHIT, but a few years ago my daughter played for MIT where the rigours of academic are extremely high.  She played for the team that brought MIT their first and second ever conference championships and NCAA appearances.
Each year it would be expected that one or two underclassmen would quit basketball, but we were fortunate that the coaching staff and the school understood the daily pressure the girls were under. One thing MIT does that I loved, was there are never classes between 5-7 PM, and that is when ALL athletic practices are. Noo 5:30 AM practices, no missing class for practice. It was great for the players and coaches.
That being said, no matter how much you love the sport, if the environment is toxic your better off getting out and enjoying other aspects of your life, and thats not easy to do for these athletes who spent 90% of their life playing. So hats off to your daughter making the best decision for her.
As I said, I know nothing about your situation or RHIT, but just adding my $0.02

Preseason poll is up, and I am sure nobody is surprised RIC is #1

https://littleeast.com/news/2022/11/2/rhode-island-college-picked-to-repeat-as-lec-womens-basketball-champion-in-2022-23.aspx

2022 LEC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Rhode Island College - 60 points (5 FPV)
2. Eastern Connecticut - 56 points (2 FPV)
3. UMass Dartmouth - 55 points (2 FPV)
4. Castleton - 37 points
5. UMass Boston - 31 points
6. Keene State - 30 points
7. Southern Maine - 27 points
8. Western Connecticut - 19 points
9. Plymouth State - 9 points

Preseason Top 25 is out:

https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/women/2022-23/preseason

NEWMAC are well represented with
Smith #7
Springfield #16
Babson #25

Should be an interesting year for the Newmac if teams play up to potential.

On the bright side for Smith, that game doesn't appear to count towards conference standings.  This year the NEWMAC will only be counting 1 game against each conference opponent in the standings.  The rematch will be at Smith on Feb 5th.  It will be interesting to see if Smith can make any adjustments to slow down Alex Goslin who is having a great start to the season.

I wasn't able to catch the game, but that is a strong weekend or Wheaton Mass.  Going 2-0, and averaging 11 points higher (71 pts/game) than last year (60).  Looking at their roster, they graduated 1 player.  So they should compete fairly well this year.  The NEWMAC should be a tough conference. 

With the change in scheduling this year, it will be interesting to watch.  They play each team within the conference only once, so you have to bring your A game for those conference games. In the past, they played some teams twice, but I guess that was seen as unfair advantage depending upon which teams you played twice.

Conference games will be much more valuable this year.....

2019-20 Pre-season Coaches Poll.  No big surprises, although I did expect Smith to be higher. Strange they are in 6th place and received one first place vote.

1) Springfield (5)
2) Babson (5)
3) MIT
4) Emerson
5) WPI
6) Smith (1)
7) Wellesley
8) Clark
T9) Coach Guard
T9) Wheaton
11) Mount Holyoke

Babson comes in tied at #36 in this weeks D3Hoops poll.  Nice to see the Newmac get a little recognition as I think there are a few very strong teams at the top this year.  Conference play should have a handful of blowouts, and a handful of very competitive games. 

This past weekend had a couple of really good games.

Emerson who were 11-15 last year, seems to be a strong contender in the Newmac this year after beating a solid Smith team 86-77.  Lauren Bondi had another strong game for Smith with 30 points, but Charlie Boyle put up 36 for Emerson going 10-10 from the line.

MIT battled Emmanuel on Saturday, and came away with the win 72-69.  Emmanuel plays a fast paced, in your face full court defense that caused some troubles, but MIT's defense held Emmanuel to 20 points below their average.

So far strong Newmac teams(in no particular order)
Babson
Springfield
MIT
Emerson
Smith

This weekend was a weekend of blowouts across the NEWMAC.  The big surprise was Smith blasting Babson 86-62 and doing most of the damage from behind the arc.  Smith shot 72% from behind the arch (18-25) and was lead by Senior Lauren Bondi shooting 10-14 setting a new school record.  Two other players were 4-5 from long range.  At some point that hot shooting will probably slow down, but that is an impressive performance.  Babson is a strong team, but it was just Smiths day for sure.

Couple other thoughts:

• WPI seems to be in a rebuilding year losing to Wheaton and Emerson so far this year
• MIT bounced back strong after losing to Babson, beating Clark 90-49
• Springfield (3-3) with a big win over Smith during the week 59-52 looks to be putting together another solid season

I am also curious for others opinions on the refs this season.  To me (and it may be just me) the refs seem to be calling games extremely tight on the womens side.  I hear fans from both sides saying the same thing.. "Let them play basketball!" regardless of the team getting called on the touch foul.  Is it just me or are other people noticing that in the Northeast?

Wow, I thought maybe Lehman was a young team that just needs experience, but unfortunately that is not the case.  In fact, to make matters worse, they have no freshman, 1 sophomore and the rest Juniors and Seniors.  Doesn't look like things will be getting better anytime soon for them. 

Conference play starts tonight in the Newmac with a handful of great games. 

Top Two Games - And the 4 teams I expect to see at the top of a strong conference:
Springfield @ Smith - Two very strong teams that will be competing for the conference title
Babson @ MIT - MIT first home game of season after opening with 5 road games.

Other Games
WPI @ Wheaton - WPI lost several key players from last year.  It will be interesting to see if they can compete again this year
Wellesley @ Emerson
Clark @ Simmons
Mount Holyoke @ Coast Guard

Predictions Anyone???

All games start at 7:00 EST

Actually, I take that back. That was their home winning streak.  Apparently their most recent run was their longest winning streak (68 games I think).  According to ESPN the longest streak is 81 games

Division III
Men -- 60, Potsdam State (season opener 1985-March 17, 1987)
Women -- 81, Washington-St. Louis (Feb. 20, 1998-Jan. 12 2001)

http://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/ncw/id/5944646

Based on their website it was 121 game winning streak.

http://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/wbkb/record_book

Home Winning Streak --- 121 Games (NCAA Record)
Started: Jan. 31, 2009 (Amherst def. Colby, 65-64)
Ended: Feb. 6, 2016 (Tufts def. Amherst, 52-51)

Quote from: NEHoopsFan on November 19, 2018, 03:14:35 PM
Smith
•   #46? TCNJ 12/30
•   Middlebury 1/15
MIT
•   #7 University of Chicago – Lost by 9 but was close the entire game. Was up by 11 in 2nd quarter.
•   #2 Bowdoin 11/25
•   #46? TCNJ 12/29
•   Wesleyan University 1/29
WPI
•   #6 Tufts 1/22
Babson
•   #6 Tufts 2/6
Springfield
•   #6 Tufts – blown out 89-51
•   Middlebury – Lost by 6, outscored Middlebury in second half 40-30
Coast guard
•   UMass Dartmouth – Lost 85-67
Emerson
•   #6 Tufts 12/11

I left two of Babsons games off the list, so update is below..
Smith
•   #46? TCNJ 12/30
•   Middlebury 1/15
MIT
•   #7 University of Chicago – Lost by 9 but was close the entire game. Was up by 11 in 2nd quarter.
•   #2 Bowdoin 11/25
•   #46? TCNJ 12/29
•   Wesleyan University 1/29
WPI
•   #6 Tufts 1/22
Babson
•   #28 Baldwin Wallace - Lost 66-52
• #31 Rochester - Won 58-48 Ouimette with 20 rebounds
•   #6 Tufts 2/6
Springfield
•   #6 Tufts – blown out 89-51
•   Middlebury – Lost by 6, outscored Middlebury in second half 40-30
Coast guard
•   UMass Dartmouth – Lost 85-67
Emerson
•   #6 Tufts 12/11

Granted, the strength of schedule will not be known until we close in on the end of the season, but I am curious what it will take for one of these teams to get an at large bid.