Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball Picked Fourth in C-USA Preseason Poll
10/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 17, 2005
IRVING, Texas -Marshall has been chosen to finish in fourth place in the Conference USA women's basketball preseason poll, the league office announced today, while fellow conference newcomer Rice was selected to win the 2005-06 regular season title. Voting was conducted by the league's 12 head coaches.
The Thundering Herd, 19-10 in 2004-05, is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in eight years and returns four starters and eight letterwinners to this year's team. Head coach Royce Chadwick's squad won the school's first ever Mid-American Conference East Division championship last season by virtue of a 12-4 ledger in league play and advanced to the MAC Tournament semifinals for the second straight campaign.
"We're excited to be picked in the upper echelon of such a prestigious conference," Chadwick said. "It doesn't matter where you're picked at the start, but where you're at in the end.
"Preseason recognition is nice, but we have to back it up and make believers out of those who voted for us."
Marshall returns senior guard Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Texas) and her team-leading 15.2 points per game. Junior forward Crystal Champion (Washington, D.C.) also returns, bringing her team-best 7.9 rebounds per game back to the floor along with junior guard Teyonka Hodge (Washington, D.C.) and her 3.9 assists per contest.
Rice junior forward Lauren Neaves was selected as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year. Neaves led the Owls in scoring (13.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.1 rpg) last season and guided Rice to the Western Athletic Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.
The preseason poll was the first of a wide range of events that will coincide with 2005 C-USA Basketball Media Day, slated for Tuesday in Irving, Texas. CSTV Networks will broadcast "Conference USA Basketball Slam," a live, three-hour special presentation of media day coverage, on CSTV and online via the official Web sites of CSTV (www.cstv.com) and Conference USA (www.conferenceusa.com), beginning at 3:00 EDT.
2005-06 C-USA Preseason Poll
(1st Place Votes)
1. Rice (7)
2. Houston (5)
3. SMU
4. Marshall
5. Tulsa
6. UCF
7. Southern Miss
8. Memphis
9. Tulane
10. UAB
11. UTEP
12. East Carolina
Preseason Player of the Year
Lauren Neaves, Rice
