| 2012-13 Women's Basketball Coaches
Pre-Season Poll: |
| School |
(1st) |
Pts. |
2011-12 All |
2011-12 NWC |
| George Fox |
(5) |
66 |
32-1 |
16-0 |
| Lewis & Clark |
(4) |
58 |
25-4 |
14-2 |
| Puget Sound |
|
48 |
13-13 |
9-7 |
| Whitman |
|
43 |
16-10 |
12-4 |
| Whitworth |
|
40 |
11-14 |
7-9 |
| Pacific (Ore.) |
|
25 |
13-11 |
6-10 |
| Linfield |
|
23 |
10-15 |
4-12 |
| Pacific Lutheran |
|
20 |
7-18 |
4-12 |
| Willamette |
|
10 |
1-24 |
0-16 |
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on
9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).
George Fox Selected as Preseason NWC Champs
NEWBERG, Ore. - The 2011-12 NCAA Division III national
runners-up George Fox Bruins have been selected by the coaches of
the Northwest Conference to repeat as conference champions. The
Bruins have won or shared the conference crown each of the past six
seasons.
George Fox returns three starters from a team that took an
undefeated season into the NCAA Division III national championship
game before falling to Illinois Wesleyan, including preseason
All-American center Hannah Munger.
George Fox University’s 6-5 center was named Second Team
All-America in the Bruins’ run to last year’s NCAA
Division III women’s basketball national championship game,
has been tabbed as a pre-season First Team All-American for the
upcoming 2012-13 season by D3hoops.com.
Munger, a senior from Newberg, Ore., earned Second Team honors
from D3hoops.com and received All-America honorable mention from
the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, which only picks
a First Team. She was also a First Team All-West Region pick by
D3hoops and an All-Northwest Conference First Team choice, her
third season in a row to be All-NWC First Team. As a
sophomore, she was First Team All-West Region, West Region Player
of the Year, and Third Team All-America as chosen by
D3hoops.
George Fox also bring back junior starters Megan Arnoldy and
Hayley Cusick. Arnoldy, a 5-11 forward, averaged 8.0 points and 4.6
rebounds per game. Cusick averaged 5.4 points and 1.4 assists per
game.
The loss of Northwest Conference Player of the Year Keisha
Gordon and her 14.2 points and 6.6 rebounds a game could prove
difficult to fill. But the Bruins don't rebuild, they reload, and
are poised again to finish atop the conference standings for the
seventh consecutive year.
Picked to finish second behind George Fox are the Lewis &
Clark Pioneers, receiving four first-place votes. Lewis &
Clark enters the 2012-2013 season ranked as the 11th
best team in Division III basketball according to the
D3hoops.com.
The Pioneers, who made it to the NCAA Women's
Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive year during the
2011-2012 season, graduate four seniors from that team which
included three starters.
Despite a relatively new look this season, the Pioneers will
return Northwest Conference First-Team recipient Kristina
Williams who became the fastest player in L&C history to
score 1,000 career points. Williams will be rejoined by Sara
Villanueva who earned NWC All-Conference Second-Team honors
last season.
Williams and Villanueva return the majority of the Pioneers
offensive presence, with Williams averaging 15.3 points a game and
Villanueva adding 11.4. The duo also led the team in assists,
free-throw percentage and three-point percentage last season.
Puget Sound (48 points) are picked to finish third.
The Loggers finished fourth in the Norhwest Conference in 2011-12
with a 9-7 conference record. Jocelyn Riordan is the only starter
gone from a year ago. Riordan was the third leading scorer for the
Loggers, averaging 9.4 points a game.
Whitman, gathering 43 points, projects to finish
fourth in the NWC. The Missionaries finished third in the
conference a season ago (16-10, 12-4 NWC).
Whitman return many of their forwards and post
players from last season. The question is in their backcourt having
lost Jenele Peterson (First Team All-NWC) who started every game
throughout her career.
Whitworth (40 points) is slotted fifth in the
preseason poll. Though the Bucs lose the top scorer from
the 2011-12 campaign (First Team All-Northwest Conference
Lexi Belcher), Whitworth returns 11 players from last year's
roster and 10 of the top 12 scorers. Whitworth will also feature
some new faces, as the Pirates have seven true freshmen on the
roster.
The Pacific (Ore.) University Boxers (25
points) are picked to finish sixth, which is where they finished
2011-12. Pacific (Ore.) lost top scorer Erica Schultz (13.9
PPG) but do return Second Team All-Northwest Conference forward
Paige Jensen. Jensen led the Boxers with 8.8 rebounds per
game.
Linfield (23 points) comes in ranked seventh.
The Wildcats have a huge gap to fill with the loss of Gretchen
Owens. The 5-8 guard led the Wildcats in points per game, rebounds
per game, assists, steals and three-point
shooting.
Pacific Lutheran falls in at eighth earning 20
points. The Lutes return three starters from a squad that finished
eighth in the Northwest Conference in 2011-12 along bringing in a
strong recruiting class. PLU does however lose their two best
three-point shooters in Shelly Kilcup and Sara
Backstrom.
Picked to finish nineth are the Bearcats of
Willamette (10 points). Willamette finished with just one win in
their 25 games a season ago.
Willamette brings in a new head coach
in Peg Swadener. Swadener was formerly the
associate head coach of women's basketball at Portland State
University.
The Bearcats lost top scorer and
rebounder Kaileigh Westermann. Westermann averaged 9.5 points and
7.8 rebounds a game last
season.
The Northwest Conference champion is determined by the regular
season schedule. The league will use a conference tournament,
comprised of the top four teams in the final regular season
standings, to decide the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The season officially gets underway on November 15th.