The South Atlantic Conference Announces Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll and All-Conference Teams

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Wingate has been picked to win the 2017-18 South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship as voted by the League's head coaches. The Bulldogs picked up seven top votes and received 97 points from the panel.

Wingate finished the 2016-17 season tied for second with an overall record of 26-6 and an 18-4 mark in league play.  The Bulldogs defeated Lincoln Memorial to clinch their ninth SAC Women's Basketball title. Wingate defeated King in the first round of the NCAA Division II Championship. Ultimately, the Bulldogs season ended in the next round in a loss to Lincoln Memorial. Wingate comes into the 2017-18 campaign ranked No. 14 in the WBCA NCAA Division II Top-25 Pre-season Coaches' Poll.

Lincoln Memorial is No. 2 in the 2017-18 SAC Preseason Poll with 85 points and Anderson is No. 3 with 84 points.

The Railsplitters, who earned one top vote from the panel, advanced the regional semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship after finishing the 2016-17 regular season at 28-5 overall and 19-3 in League play.  Lincoln Memorial made a run in the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Basketball Tournament and finished as the Regional Runner-Up.

Anderson turned in an overall record of 21-7 a season ago to go along with an 18-4 record in SAC play.  The Trojans earned an at-large bid to the 2017 NCAA Division II Basketball Championship.

At No. 4 in the poll was Carson-Newman, who picked up 74 points from the head coaches.  The Eagles went 20-10 overall and 16-6 in the South Atlantic Conference last season.  Newberry followed as it received 71 points, landing in the No. 5 position.  The Wolves closed out their 2016-17 season at 18-9 overall and 14-8 in the SAC.

Catawba earned the No. 6 position with 56 points.  The Indians were 16-13 overall and 12-10 in the SAC a season ago. Lenoir-Rhyne came in at No. 7 with 40 points.  The Bears posted a 17-12 overall record as well as a 13-9 mark in the Conference.  Tusculum landed at No. 8 in the preseason poll as it collected 36 points from the panel.  Last season, the Pioneers went 6-20 overall and 5-17 in the South Atlantic Conference

Queens came in at No. 8 with 36 points, followed by Coker with 21 points. Mars Hill rounded out the poll as it notched 11 points.

The South Atlantic Conference also announced its Preseason All-Conference Teams with Danasia Witherspoon and Marta Miscenko of Wingate, Catawba's Terri Rogers, Lincoln Memorial's Shea Coker and Meg Essex of Newberry named to the first team.

Rogers averaged 18.0 points per game to rank third in the South Atlantic Conference.  Witherspoon  and Miscenko both ranked No. 10 in the South Atlantic Conference with 13.8 points per game. Coker ranked third in the league with 119 assists, while Essex finished the season with 71 blocks for second in the league.

Earning second-team honors were Newberry's Nicola Handreck, Kasey Johnson of Tusculum, Madi Suddreth from Lenoir-Rhyne, Catawba's Serena Brown,  Alexy Mollenhauer and Madison Baggett from Anderson.

The 2017-18 Women's Basketball season gets underway on Friday Nov. 10.

Women's Preseason Poll

First Team

Danasia Witherspoon, Wingate

Terri Rogers, Catawba

Mika Wester, Carson-Newman

Shea Coker, Lincoln Memorial

Marta Miscenko, Wingate

Meg Essex, Newberry

Second Team

Nicola Handreck, Newberry

Alexy Mollenhauer, Anderson

Kasey Johnson, Tusculum

Madison Baggett, Anderson

Madi Suddreth, Lenoir-Rhyne

Serena Brown, Catawba

- #makeSACyours -