CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The Coastal Carolina women’s basketball has been selected to finish fifth in the Big South Conference Preseason Poll voted on by the conference’s head coaches and media members as announced by the Big South Conference during the annual media day in Charlotte, N.C.
Liberty, last season’s champion, led the poll tallying 172 point and 13 first place votes. Gardner-Webb, who defeated the Chanticleers in the semifinal of the 2009-10 Big South Championship Tournament, received seven first place votes and 163 votes overall. High Point (128), Charleston Southern (121), and Coastal (98) rounded out the top five. Radford, Winthrop, UNC Asheville, and Presbyterian completed the preseason poll finishing sixth through ninth respectively.
"We were picked at about where I thought we would be based on what each team has coming back from last season," said head coach Alan LeForce. "If we work hard this season, we have a talented team that could easily surpass our preseason rank."
Senior Sydnei Moss was tabbed a preseason All-Big South Conference performer. Moss led the Chants last season averaging 15.4 point per game. Joining Moss as preseason all-conference selections are Liberty’s duo of Devon Brown and Avery Warley as well as Dominique Hudson of Gardner-Webb and Katie Tull of Charleston Southern. Brown was also selected as the preseason player of the year.
"Sydnei has started for us the last three years and has always been a scorer, but this past summer she worked on creating opportunities for her teammates as well," said LeForce. "Moss will play a big role in the amount of success this team has this season."
Coastal will return three starters from last season’s squad that finished 17-13 (7-9 Big South) in Moss, Katie White and Katie Ahaus. White ranked 22nd in the NCAA with 2.3 blocked shots per game in 2009-10. White currently sits ninth in the Big South with 142 career blocks. Ahaus led the Chanticleers in assists in 2009-10 dishing out 70 on the season.
Head Coach Alan LeForce will welcome in six newcomers to the program this season. Transfer student Kira Carter averaged 16.7 points per game last season at Wabash Valley College. The freshman class of Kayla Cook, Angelica Henry, Alexx Puckett, Shanika Maddox, and Katelyn Connor is the largest for Leforce in five seasons.
Coastal will open the season as host to Southern Virginia on Nov. 12 to kick off the program’s final home season in Kimbel Arena before moving to the new Convocation Center next year.
Big South Preseason Poll
Team (first-place votes) Points
Liberty (13) 172
Gardner-Webb (7) 163
High Point 128
Charleston Southern 121
Coastal Carolina 98
Radford 75
Winthrop 69
UNC Asheville 43
Presbyterian 33
Preseason All-Big South First Team
Devon Brown, Liberty
Dominique Hudson, Gardner-Webb
Sydnei Moss, Coastal Carolina
Katie Tull, Charleston Southern
Avery Warley, Liberty
Preseason Big South Player of the Year
Devon Brown, Liberty
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