Midwestern State is the top choice to defend its Lone Star Conference title, according to the 2013-14 LSC preseason women’s basketball poll announced Wednesday.
The league's preseason polls reflect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives from throughout the region.
MSU shared the LSC Championship with Abilene Christian and won the tournament title last season. The Mustangs earned first-place votes on 20 of the 25 ballots for a total of 218 points.
West Texas A&M finished second with one first-place nod and 190 points to edge Tarleton State. The TexAnns were third with 188 points and three top votes.
Angelo State was picked fourth (127), Texas A&M-Commerce fifth (126 and one first-place vote), and Texas Woman’s sixth (84). Cameron (75), Eastern New Mexico (69), and Texas A&M-Kingsville (48) rounded out the poll.
In addition, TSU’s Kiara Wright was honored as Preseason Player of the Year. Wright was the top choice on 18 of the 25 ballots cast. MSU’s Andrea Carter received four votes, while two others collected the remaining votes.
Wright led the TexAnns to their fourth straight NCAA regional tournament and the 10th straight Lone Star Conference tournament. She led the nation in rebounding with 14.0 boards per game, was second in the nation in field goal percentage (.608) and 21st in scoring (18.6). In addition to the All-American status, Wright also earned Regional Player of the Year and LSC Player of the Year honors as well as first-team all-region and all-conference and LSC Co-Defensive Player of the Year recognition.
The LSC has nine teams set for this season and the competition should be as close as ever. The season begins November 8 with LSC teams playing a double round robin league schedule, in which each team plays a home and away contest against each of the other teams to determine the LSC champion.
The LSC champion will be the regular season winner determined by league games, while the postseason tournament winner is designated as LSC Tournament Champion and earns the conference’s automatic qualification. The top eight teams in the final conference standings qualify for the postseason tournament set for March 5-8 in Allen, Texas.
|
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL |
1st |
TOTAL |
|
1 |
Midwestern State |
20 |
218 |
|
2 |
West Texas A&M |
1 |
190 |
|
3 |
Tarleton State |
3 |
188 |
|
4 |
Angelo State |
|
127 |
|
5 |
Texas A&M-Commerce |
1 |
126 |
|
6 |
Texas Woman's |
|
84 |
|
7 |
Cameron |
|
75 |
|
8 |
Eastern New Mexico |
|
69 |
|
9 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
|
48 |