2001-02 Women's Basketball Coaches Pre-Season Poll:
| School |
(1st) |
Pts. |
00-01 Overall |
00-01 NWC |
| Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) |
(6) |
77 |
20-6 |
13-3 |
| George Fox (Ore.) |
(3) |
76 |
23-3 |
15-1 |
| Linfield (Ore.) |
|
57 |
9-15 |
4-12 |
| Puget Sound (Wash.) |
|
56 |
16-8 |
9-7 |
| Whitworth (Wash.) |
|
49 |
11-12 |
9-7 |
| Willamette (Ore.) |
|
41 |
17-8 |
12-4 |
| Pacific (Ore.) |
|
22 |
7-17 |
5-11 |
| Whitman (Wash.) |
|
19 |
7-17 |
3-13 |
| Lewis & Clark (Ore.) |
|
17 |
4-21 |
2-14 |
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).
Pacific Lutheran Picked as NWC Women's Hoops Favorite
Spokane, Wash -- Pacific Lutheran University is a narrow choice to unseat George Fox University as this year's Northwest Conference champions, according to a poll of conference coaches.
The Lutes, who finished second to the Bruins last season, totaled 77 points and picked up six of the nine first place votes. PLU will be led by Jessica Iserman (Sr., C) and Becky Franza (Sr., PG), both of whom earned First Team All-Northwest Conference selection last season. The Lutes are looking to return to the title they held from 1998-2000. They finished 20-6 overall last season and 13-3 in the NWC.
George Fox picked up the other three first place votes and totaled 76 points, only one behind PLU in the poll. George Fox, which spent several weeks at the top of the NCAA Division III women's basketball poll, won the 2001 title with a record of 23-3 overall and 15-1 in the conference. The Bruins must replace two-time NWC Player of the Year Katie Lacey. But George Fox has Becky Thompson (Sr., PG) and Nicole Prazeau (Sr., W) coming back after both were named to the All-NWC Second Team in 2001.
Linfield College and University of Puget Sound were just as close in running for third place in the poll. The Wildcats totaled 57 points to the Loggers' 56 points. Whitworth finished fifth with 49 points and Willamette was sixth with 41 points.
Pacific University (22 points), Whitman College (19) and Lewis & Clark College (17) rounded out the final three places in the coaches' poll.
Once again this season the Northwest Conference has an automatic (Pool A) bid to the NCAA tournament. That bid will go to the winner of the NWC tournament. The top three teams in the conference will qualify for the NWC tournament. The third place team will play at the second place team. The winner will play at the conference champion for the right to the automatic bid. Regardless of that outcome, the regular-season winner will retain the title of conference champion.
Several teams begin play on November 16th.