West Texas A&M is a nearly unanimous favorite to defend its Lone Star Conference title, according to the 2015-16 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.
Last season, WT claimed the LSC Championship and tournament titles along with the South Central Regional crown for the second consecutive year before falling in the first round of the Elite Eight. The Lady Buffs received first-place votes on 23 of the 25 ballots for a total of 220 points.
Texas Woman’s finished second with one first-place nod and 171 points, followed by Midwestern State in third with 157 points, and Cameron in fourth with 140 points and the remaining top vote.
Tarleton State was picked fifth (135 points), Texas A&M-Commerce sixth (128), Angelo State seventh (77), Eastern New Mexico (69) eighth and Texas A&M-Kingsville (28) ninth.
WT’s Sasha Watson picked up Preseason Player of the Year acclaim. Watson was the favorite on 19 of the 25 ballots cast.
Watson, a 5-7 junior guard from Amarillo, Texas, was second on last year’s 30-3 team in scoring with 13 points per game. She played in all 33 games with 29 starts and was named LSC Defensive Player of the Year, first team All-LSC and to the LSC All-Defensive Team. She earned second team Daktronics All-South Central Region honors and was the South Central Region Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
The LSC has nine teams set for this season and the competition should be as tight as ever. The season begins November 13 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 2-5 in Allen, Texas.
| WOMEN’S BASKETBALL |
1st |
TOTAL |
| 1 |
West Texas A&M |
23 |
220 |
| 2 |
Texas Woman's |
1 |
171 |
| 3 |
Midwestern State |
|
157 |
| 4 |
Cameron |
1 |
140 |
| 5 |
Tarleton State |
|
135 |
| 6 |
Texas A&M-Commerce |
|
128 |
| 7 |
Angelo State |
|
77 |
| 8 |
Eastern New Mexico |
|
69 |
| 9 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
|
28 |