Women's Basketball Coaches Pre-Season Poll:
| School |
(1st) |
Pts. |
'99 NWC |
'99 all |
| Pacific Lutheran |
(6) |
83 |
17-1 |
22-6 |
| Whitworth |
(3) |
74 |
13-5 |
17-8 |
| George Fox |
|
61 |
14-4 |
18-6 |
| Puget Sound |
|
60 |
14-4 |
21-6 |
| Willamette |
|
38 |
10-8 |
14-11 |
| Linfield |
|
35 |
7-11 |
9-16 |
| Whitman |
|
27 |
5-13 |
9-16 |
| Pacific |
|
19 |
4-14 |
5-20 |
| Lewis & Clark |
|
14 |
4-14 |
6-18 |
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).
Lutes Selected to Win Again
SPOKANE, WA -- Defending champion Pacific Lutheran University received six of a possible nine first place votes and 83 total points and sits atop the 1999-00 Northwest Conference women's basketball coaches' pre-season poll. The Lutes are defending conference champions and came within three points of advancing to the NCAA Division III Final Four last season. Gil Rigell, in his third season as head coach of the Lutes, has four starters back from last season's team, including 1998-99 NWC Player of the Year Tara Millet (Sr., P, Sequim, WA).
Whitworth College, the only team to defeat PLU in NWC play last season, received the other three first place votes and 74 points. The Pirates also return four starters for head coach Helen Higgs, in her 6th season. Among the returning starters is Jamie Wakefield (Jr., F, Spokane, WA), a 1st Team All-NWC selection last season. Whitworth last won a conference title in 1994-95.
George Fox University and the University of Puget Sound were selected 3rd and 4th with 61 and 60 points, respectively. The two tied for second place in the NWC last season.
Willamette University was chosen fifth with 38 points and Linfield College was selected sixth with 35 points. Whitman College, Pacific University and Lewis & Clark College rounded out the final three places with 27, 19 and 14 points, respectively.
There will not be a conference playoff this season.