Women's Basketball | 10/11/2024 10:54:03 AM
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - The RedStorm of the University of Rio Grande are the women's basketball preseason favorites in the River States Conference, earning poll position in this year's RSC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The poll, announced Friday morning by the River States Conference office, saw each of the conference's 12 head coaches rank the other member schools in order of predicted finish.
Rio Grande enters the 2024-25 season as the three-time defending RSC champions, going 16-1 in the regular season last season and winning the RSC tournament title and advancing to the NAIA National Tournament. Rio Grande was the overwhelming choice of the RSC women's basketball coaches, appearing in the top spot in ten of a possible eleven ballots (coaches do not vote for their own team)
Oakland City, who also lost just one game in River States play last season, earned the other two first place votes. The Mighty Oaks, who also played in the NAIA Tournament last season, were picked to finish second. Finishing out the top five in the ballot were St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Shawnee State, and Midway, with the Pomeroys topping the Bears for third place by just two points.
The remainder of the poll saw IU East sixth to finish out the top half of the ranking, followed by Alice Lloyd seventh, IU Southeast eighth, IU Kokomo ninth, WVU Tech tenth, Brescia eleventh, and first-year program IU Columbus 12th.
The first RSC women's basketball conference game of the season is slated for Tuesday, November 26, when the Pomeroys of St. Mary-of-the-Woods head to Owensboro for a meeting with Brescia. Every team in the conference will play one conference game before the first of the year, with the first day of full conference play scheduled for Saturday, January 4.
2024-25 RSC PRESEASON WOMEN's BASKETBALL COACHES' POLL
1. Rio Grande (119 points, 10 first place votes)
2. Oakland City (109 points, 2 first place votes)
3. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (99 points)
4. Shawnee State (97 points)
5. Midway (73 points)
6. IU East (63 points)
7. Alice Lloyd (60 points)
8. IU Southeast (57 points)
9. IU Kokomo (40 points)
10. WVU Tech (33 points)
11. Brescia (29 points)
12. IU Columbus (13 points)