MARSHALL, Texas (10/14/08) – American Southwest Conference East Division coaches, sports information directors and selected media members have picked ETBU to finish fifth in the ASC East Division women’s basketball race this season with the release of the 2008-09 ASC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll.
The Lady Tigers are coming off an 8-16 season a year ago but will be under the direction of new head coach Lane Loyd, an East Texas native and former Tiger assistant basketball coach, when the season tips off on Nov. 21 against Belhaven College in Ornelas Gym.
ETBU received a total of 71 votes in the poll, just behind fourth-place Texas-Dallas, which received 92 points and one first-place vote. LeTourneau was behind ETBU in sixth place with 37 points, followed by Ozarks in seventh with 30.
Defending champion UT Tyler, coming off a 17-9 record last season, was picked as the favorite in the East with 138 points and 14 first-place votes. Louisiana College (15-11) was second, with 111 points and three firsts, followed by Mississippi College (15-11) in third with 109 points and the remaining three first-place votes.
Loyd was hired in June to replace Jay Bowen, who left for an assistant’s position at Tennessee-Martin after just one season at ETBU. He and the Lady Tigers will open their first preseason camp together Wednesday, as they prepare for an exhibition game at Centenary College on Nov. 10 in Shreveport.
"We are ready to get started,” says Loyd, who coached one season on staff with ETBU men’s coach Bert West back in 2001-02. "The season will be here before we know it and we’ve got a lot of work to do starting Wednesday.”
ETBU returns three starters off last season’s team that ended with no seniors in the starting lineup the second half of the year. Senior guard Meaghan Woodell (5-7), of Hillsboro, is back after starting every game last season and averaging 6.0 points per game. She’s joined by returning starter Karlee Wilson (6-1), of Hallsville, who manned the post last season after joining ETBU after the Christmas holidays.
Wilson averaged 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, to go along with 28 blocked shots in the 16 games she played last season.
Another key returner is senior Candy Vallo (5-7), who did not play last season but who started the previous three years. As a junior in 2006-07, Vallo averaged 9.1 points and 3.8 rebounds for a Lady Tiger team that finished 22-5 and won the ASC East Division.
Loyd is expecting contributions for a large incoming class of 13 new players, including freshman post Kaci Strother (5-11) of Kaufman and junior transfer Satara Harrell (5-9), a native of Cedar Hill who played the last two seasons at Panola College.
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