FARMINGTON, Utah – The Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Polls were released today (Oct. 17), and the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team was selected to finish sixth in the media poll and seventh in the coaches' poll.
Montana State was selected to finish first in both polls. In the media poll, Eastern Washington received 126 points and a first-place vote to finish behind Northern Colorado (131 points, four first-place votes) and ahead of Montana (116 points, two first-place votes). The Eagles were voted seventh in the coaches' poll with 52 points behind Northern Colorado who received 57 points and ahead of Northern Arizona who had 48.
The Eagles finished 13-20 overall last season with a 9-11 mark in conference play. After qualifying for the Big Sky Conference Tournament as a No. 6 seed, the Eagles put together a historic tournament run, knocking off Weber State, Idaho State and Northern Colorado to advance to the championship game against Portland State where they unfortunately fell 61-59 on last-second shot.
Although the Eagles lose Second-Team All-Big Sky selection
Violet Kapri Morrow, who averaged 18.0 points and 6.5 rebounds last year, they return three starters. Sophomore
Grace Kirscher, an All-Big Sky Honorable Mention selection as a freshman, is back after putting up 10.4 points per game last season. Junior
Brittany Klaman and sophomore
Bella Cravens are also back after a combined 46 starts in 2018-19.
Also returning to the squad is sophomore
Jessica McDowell-White who earned All-Big Sky Tournament team honors last year and averaged 8.5 points and 2.8 assists. Junior
Cailyn Francis returns along with lone senior
Leya DePriest.
Redshirt-freshmen
Tatiana Reese,
Tessa Burke,
Trinity Golder and
Milly Knowles also highlight the 2019-20 roster.
Eastern Washington lost six players last year, but have reloaded with four promising true freshmen in
Jenna Dick (Langley, B.C. / Brookswood Secondary),
Kennedy Dickie (Kelowna, B.C. / Kelowna Secondary),
Gabby Jung (Dickinson, N.D. / Dickinson HS) and
Alexyss Newman (Goodyear, Ariz. / Millennium HS).
Practices are well underway for the 2019-20 season. After an exhibition at home against Northwest University on Oct. 30, the Eagles open the season at Stanford on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Big Sky play begins on Dec. 28 when Weber State comes to town.
Media Poll
Rank – Team – Points (first-place votes)
1. Montana State: 155 (7)
2. Idaho: 148 (1)
3. Portland State: 147 (3)
4. Idaho State: 140 (3)
5. Northern Colorado: 131 (4)
6. Eastern Washington: 126 (1)
7. Montana: 116 (2)
8. Northern Arizona: 83
9. Sacramento State: 62
10. Southern Utah: 52
11. Weber State: 28
First place votes in parenthesis
Coaches' Poll
Rank – Team – Points (first-place votes)
1. Montana State: 89 (5)
2. Idaho: 88 (3)
3. Portland State: 73 (2)
4. Idaho State: 70
5. Montana: 63 (1)
6. Northern Colorado: 57
7. Eastern Washington: 52
8. Northern Arizona: 48
9. Southern Utah: 32
10. Sacramento State: 19
11. Weber State: 14
First place votes in parenthesis
