INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Southern Indiana, Maryville University and Drury University women’s basketball teams have been selected to win their respective divisions for the upcoming 2017-18 Great Lakes Valley Conference season, it was announced by the league office Wednesday. The annual GLVC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll was voted on by the league coaches and ranks the top-five teams in each of the Conference’s divisions.
The GLVC regular season will feature a newly adopted three-division format with the familiar East and West Divisions, along with the additional Central Division. The top-eight teams with the most points derived from the new GLVC Point Rating System at the end of the regular season will earn a berth to the GLVC Basketball Championship Tournament on March 1-4 at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Defending GLVC Champion Drury (30-4, 17-1 GLVC in 2016-17) earned 13 of the possible 14 votes, as Conference policy prohibits coaches from casting a vote for their own team. The Panthers amassed 66 points to take the top spot in the West and have recently been ranked seventh in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Preseason Poll and No. 11 by the Women’s Division II Bulletin (WDIIB). Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Molly Miller, Drury returns senior guard Heather Harman, who was named an All-GLVC First Team honoree, the GLVC Championship Tournament MVP and a D2CCA All-Midwest Region Second Team member last year. She was also just named a WDIIB preseason honorable mention All-American. Joining Harman back on the court will be two other All-GLVC picks in Daejah Bernard and last year’s GLVC Freshman of the Year, Hailey Diestelkamp. The two sophomores were also voted to the league’s All-Freshman Team in 2016-17.
Last season’s East Division Champion, Southern Indiana (24-5, 16-2), garnered five first-place votes to total 54 points and the top spot in the division. Reigning GLVC Coach of the Year Rick Stein, who became the first basketball coach in USI history to eclipse the 300-win plateau a year ago, will lead the Screaming Eagles for the 19th season in 2017-18. He returns two All-GLVC performers to the lineup in seniors Kaydie Grooms and Morgan Dahlstrom.
Lewis University (23-9, 13-5) also earned five first-place votes in the East but was three points behind USI with 51 for the No. 2 spot. The Flyers finished third in the division last year and were the No. 3 seed for the GLVC postseason event, making an appearance in the Championship finals. In addition, they earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in program history and fifth year in a row. New to the sidelines in her first year as head coach is Samantha Quigley Smith, whose squad received votes in the WBCA Preseason Poll. She inherits All-GLVC First Team choice and reigning GLVC Player of the Year, Jessica Kelliher, to her lineup.
Maryville (13-14, 8-10) collected 60 points, including six first-place votes, to top the new Central Division, while University of Missouri-St. Louis (16-12, 10-8) picked up eight of the first-place votes but was two points behind the Saints with 58. Three All-GLVC performers return to Maryville’s lineup in senior Ali Ringering, junior Stephanie Sherwood and sophomore Mary Barton, and they will be guided by second-year skipper Collin Lanam. UMSL welcomes back redshirt-senior Jordan Fletcher and junior Laura Szorenyi, who were both All-GLVC honorees a year ago, and they will be under the tutelage of Katie Vaughn in her sixth year.
In the East, Bellarmine University (49) earned three first-place votes to place third, while University of Indianapolis was tabbed with the other two first-place nods and 48 points for fourth. Rounding out the East was University of Wisconsin-Parkside in fifth with 18 points; however, UW-Parkside will not be eligible for the GLVC division title or GLVC Tournament due to Conference sanctions.
In the Central division, University of Illinois Springfield earned 37 points for No. 3 in the poll ahead of fourth-place McKendree University (35) and No. 5 Quincy University (30), which garnered the final first-place vote.
Truman State University garnered second place in the West poll with 52 points and one first-place vote, while Rockhurst University was third with 47 points. Rounding out the division was William Jewell College (32) in fourth and Missouri S&T at No. 5 (23) with the other first-place vote.
The majority of GLVC women’s basketball teams officially open the 2017-18 season Friday, Nov. 10, with 11 in action.
The complete 2017-18 GLVC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll follows:
| EAST |
|
CENTRAL |
|
WEST |
|
| Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
| 1. Southern Indiana |
54 (5) |
1. Maryville |
60 (6) |
1. Drury |
66 (13) |
| 2. Lewis |
51 (5) |
2. Missouri-St. Louis |
58 (8) |
2. Truman State |
52 (1) |
| 3. Bellarmine |
49 (3) |
3. Illinois Springfield |
37 |
3. Rockhurst |
47 |
| 4. Indianapolis |
48 (2) |
4. McKendree |
35 |
4. William Jewell |
32 |
| 5. UW-Parkside* |
18 |
5. Quincy |
30 (1) |
5. Missouri S&T |
23 (1) |
*Ineligible to win division title and appear in GLVC/NCAA postseason (GLVC sanctions)