ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Indiana State women's basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference's annual preseason poll, the conference office announced Tuesday prior to the league's annual tip-off event in St. Louis.
The Drake Bulldogs were picked to win the league after picking up 31 of the 40 total first-place votes followed by Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois to round out the top four. Bradley was selected sixth followed by the Illinois State, Evansville, Valparaiso and Loyola to round out the poll.
Fourth-year head coach
Joey Wells returns three starters from last year's squad, including MVC Newcomer of the Year
Wendi Bibbins (10.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg), Honorable Mention guard
Ashley Taia (12.1 ppg) and
Tierra Webb (7.7 ppg) who started all 30 games. The three players combined for 30 points last season, accounting for 54.4 percent of the teams' offense.
In total, the Sycamores return seven letterwinners from last season's 12-18 squad including
Regan Wentland (3.9 ppg),
Maryam Wilcher (2.0 ppg),
Ashli O'Neal (4.5 ppg) and
Freja Christensen (0.8 ppg).
Indiana State adds seven new faces to their roster, including three freshmen (
Ty Battle,
Krystal Rice and
AJ Thomas), and four junior college transfers in
Kendra Boone,
Alexis Delgado,
Kierra Isaiah and
Maeva Kitantou.
Sycamore fans will have the opportunity to check out the 2017-18 ISU squad when it takes part in March On Madness Wednesday inside the ISU Arena starting at 8:30 p.m. ET. For more information on the event, click
HERE.
The Sycamores will play their only exhibition contest Sunday, Nov. 5 against Illinois-Springfield at 2 p.m. ET at Hulman Center before welcoming Saint Louis on Friday, Nov. 10 for a 7 p.m. tip inside Hulman Center top open the regular season.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Basketball team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
