INDIANAPOLIS - The Drury University, University of Southern Indiana, and Truman State University women's basketball teams have been selected to win their respective divisions for the upcoming 2020-21 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 three divisions.
In response to adjustments needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GLVC regular season will feature three divisions and a 22-game schedule, where every team plays every divisional opponent twice - home and away - four random non-divisional opponents twice - home and away - and every other non-divisional opponent once. The top-eight teams with the most points derived from the familiar GLVC Point Rating System at the end of the regular season will earn a berth to the GLVC Basketball Championship Tournament March 4-7 on campus sites of the higher-seeded teams.
Defending GLVC Champion Drury (32-0, 20-0 GLVC in 2019-20) was voted first in the West Division with 70 total points and 14 of the possible 15 first-place votes, as Conference policy prohibits coaches from casting a vote for their own team. The Panthers were ranked No. 1 in the nation by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) for much of the season and went on to win both the league's regular season and tournament titles. Unfortunately, the NCAA Division II National Tournament was canceled prematurely due to the initial outbreak of the coronavirus, so their promising outlook for a national title as the No. 1 seed and regional host went unfulfilled. First-year head coach, Amy Eagan, will take over this season for reigning GLVC Coach of the Year, Molly Miller, and will return four key players in senior guard Payton Richards, senior forwards Azia Lynch and Emily Parker, along with All-GLVC pick in junior guard Paige Robinson.
Southwest Baptist University was picked second behind Drury with 44 points, while William Jewell College (41) was close behind in third with the other first-place vote. Rockhurst (39) and Missouri S&T (26) followed respectively in fourth and fifth.
Last season's No. 2 seed in the GLVC Championship Tournament, Southern Indiana (18-9, 14-6), garnered 10 first-place votes to total 66 points and the top spot in the East Division. Screaming Eagles head coach Rick Stein will welcome back All-GLVC second-team junior guard Emma DeHart and last year's All-GLVC Freshman team forward Hannah Haithcock.
Lewis University garnered the other five first-place votes and earned 57 points for the second spot, while the University of Indianapolis' 46 points garnered third. McKendree University just snuck into the fourth position with 26 points ahead of the University of Illinois Springfield (25) rounding out the division in fifth.
Truman State University (20-8, 16-4) leads the Central Division with 65 points and nine first-place votes, following an appearance as the fourth seed in the GLVC postseason event. Along with All-GLVC first-team senior center Katie Jaseckas, GLVC Freshman of the Year Hannah Belanger will be back in Kirksville to help lead Theo Dean's squad in his second year at the helm.
Lindenwood University claimed the second spot with four first-place votes and 56 points, and Maryville University picked up the other two first-place nods in third with 46 points. The University of Missouri-St. Louis (35) and Quincy University (18) completed the division in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The 2020-21 GLVC women's basketball season officially begins Friday, Nov. 27, with 14 teams in action.
The complete 2020-21 GLVC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll follows below.
| EAST |
|
CENTRAL |
|
WEST |
|
| Rank/School |
Points (1st-place votes) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
| 1. Southern Indiana |
66 (10) |
1. Truman State |
65 (9) |
1. Drury |
70 (14) |
| 2. Lewis |
57 (5) |
2. Lindenwood |
56 (4) |
2. Southwest Baptist |
44 |
| 3. Indianapolis |
46 |
3. Maryville |
46 (2) |
3. William Jewell |
41 (1) |
| 4. McKendree |
26 |
4. Missouri-St. Louis |
35 |
4. Rockhurst |
39 |
| 5. Illinois Springfield |
25 |
5. Quincy |
18 |
5. Missouri S&T |
26 |