CONWAY - Coastal Carolina women's basketball head coach Kevin Pederson has announced the signing of Mercy-transfer Grace Lesko for the 2026-2027 season. 

"We are excited to welcome Grace and her family to Coastal Carolina!" Pederson said. "Grace had a tremendous year at Mercy where she was named the East Coast Conference Player of the Year in addition to being selected as D2 All-American honorable mention.  We love a five-out motion based system and Grace gives us the flexibility to do just that.  She is a strong interior player that can really shoot the basketball and is comfortable playing all over the floor and we expect her to make an immediate impact on our team!  Our staff is looking forward to the positional flexibility and competitive nature she is going to bring to our program on a daily basis."

Lesko, a 6-0 forward who enters the program as a senior, played at Mercy from 2024-26. The Northampton, Pa. native is the second transfer signed by the Chanticleers for the upcoming season, both from the Division Two ranks following Caroline Mullins. 

Lesko started all 30 games for the Mavericks this past season, ranking second in the East Coast Conference with 18.4 points per game to go along with 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. She was named the ECC Player of the Year while also earning WBCA All-America Honorable Mention honors. Lesko set a single-season program record with 551 points last season and helped Mercy to a 22-8 overall record and their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years. 

Her 2024-25 season saw the forward start 16 of 28 games while averaging 11.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. 

Lesko attended Northampton High School in Pennsylvania. 

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