RSC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll & All-RSC Preseason Team Released on Media Day
RSC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll & All-RSC Preseason Team Released on Media Day
RSC MEDIA DAY VIDEO LINEUP
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- The River States Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll and the All-RSC Preseason Team for 2018-19 have been announced at RiverStatesConference.com to begin RSC Women's Basketball Media Day on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Coming up throughout the day on the conference website, Stretch Internet streaming portal and social media channels will be video interviews of head coaches and players from around the league as part of the Media Day offerings.
For the RSC Media Day lineup of video interviews, click the link above for direct links to the videos when they become available. The videos will air on the RSC's Stretch Internet portal beginning today at 11 a.m. ET and moving through the conference by the conclusion at 2 p.m. ET.
University of Rio Grande (Ohio) is the 2018-19 RSC preseason favorite coming off a fantastic year of 30-4 overall, 15-2 RSC to win the RSC regular season and RSC Tournament titles in 2017-18. The RedStorm received 10 of the 13 first-place votes in the polling of the league's head coaches, and it received 144 votes in all. Rio Grande once again reached the NAIA Division II national tournament, and it returns two preseason All-RSC selections in guard Sydney Holden and forward Jasmine Smith.
The RSC had three women's basketball teams in the national tournament for the first time in its history last year. Along with Rio Grande, those three teams led the preseason poll this year with national-tourney teams IU East and Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College coming in second and third, respectively, in the poll. Rio Grande was picked as the favorite in the RSC East Division, and Alice Lloyd was predicted first in the RSC West.
IU East, which was 22-11 overall, 13-4 RSC last year, garnered 122 total votes in the preseason poll and received one first-place vote. The Red Wolves have been to three straight NAIA DII national tournaments and are once again picked highly in the conference with their winning tradition despite graduating three star seniors.
Alice Lloyd made the national tournament and finished last year at 24-6 overall, 15-3 RSC. The Eagles, the RSC Tournament runner-up in 2017-18, received 112 votes in the preseason poll and are led by All-RSC preseason pick Hayley Hall, a guard.
The RSC West Division was very close at the top as Alice Lloyd, IU Southeast and IU Kokomo all garnered first-place votes to win the division. Alice Lloyd earned 67 votes within the division to edge out IU Southeast by one vote as the divisional favorite. IU Southeast was 18-12, 10-8 RSC last year and was picked fourth in the overall RSC poll. IU Kokomo, which was 16-13 a year ago, was picked third in the RSC West with 64 votes within the division. The Cougars were chosen sixth in the overall RSC poll, and they attracted one first-place vote as a conference favorite.
Point Park (Pa.) University was picked fifth overall in the conference and fourth in the RSC East Division. The Pioneers were 17-11 overall, 12-5 RSC last year and were a playoff team. Point Park received one first-place vote toward the overall poll and within the division.
WVU Tech was predicted seventh overall in the RSC and third in the RSC East. The Golden Bears were RSC Tournament semifinalists last year and like Point Park and Rio Grande have placed two players on the preseason all-conference team.
Brescia (Ky.) University, Cincinnati Christian University and Carlow (Pa.) University were predicted eighth, ninth and tenth in the overall poll, respectively, with just two votes separating the three schools. Midway (Ky.) University and Asbury (Ky.) University were next as one of the four teams that were predicted very close to the fourth-and-final playoff spot out of the RSC West. Ohio Christian University was not far behind coming out of the RSC East.
The following are the RSC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll and All-RSC Women's Basketball Preseason Team.
2018-19 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES' POLL (Oct. 17, 2018)
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
| School | Votes |
| 1. Rio Grande (Ohio) (10) | 141 |
| 2. IU East (1) | 122 |
| 3. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) | 112 |
| 4. IU Southeast | 102 |
| 5. Point Park (Pa.) (1) | 100 |
| 6. IU Kokomo (1) | 98 |
| 7. WVU Tech | 95 |
| 8. Brescia (Ky.) | 48 |
| 9. Cincinnati Christian | 47 |
| 10. Carlow (Pa.) | 46 |
| 11. Midway (Ky.) | 41 |
| 12. Asbury (Ky.) | 32 |
| 13. Ohio Christian | 30 |
RIVER STATES CONFERENC EAST DIVISION POLL
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
| School | Votes |
| 1. Rio Grande (Ohio) (10) | 65 |
| 2. IU East (2) | 50 |
| 3. WVU Tech | 44 |
| 4. Point Park (Pa.) (1) | 41 |
| 5. Carlow (Pa.) | 23 |
| 6. Ohio Christian | 14 |
RIVER STATES CONFERENCE WEST DIVISION POLL
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
| School | Votes |
| 1. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) (5) | 67 |
| 2. IU Southeast (4) | 66 |
| 3. IU Kokomo (4) | 64 |
| 4. Cincinnati Christian | 32 |
| 5. Asbury (Ky.) | 31 |
| 6. Brescia (Ky.) | 29 |
| 7. Midway (Ky.) | 26 |
2018-19 ALL-RIVER STATES CONFERENCE PRESEASON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
| Name | Pos. | Cl. | School |
| Hayley Hall | G | So. | Alice Lloyd (Ky.) |
| Emma Stille | F | Jr. | Carlow (Pa.) |
| Sam Weir | F | Sr. | Point Park (Pa.) |
| Savannah Shamblin | G | Sr. | WVU Tech |
| Sydney Holden | G | Jr. | Rio Grande (Ohio) |
| Haleigh Yazell | G | Jr. | Midway (Ky.) |
| Jasmine Smith | F | Sr. | Rio Grande (Ohio) |
| Autumn Herriford | G | So. | Asbury (Ky.) |
| Michelle Burns | G | So. | Point Park (Pa.) |
| Brittney Justice | G | So. | WVU Tech |