Women's Basketball picked fifth in Preseason Poll
10/30/2007 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2007
www.siusalukis.com
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The defending regular season Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball team, the Southern Illinois Salukis, were picked fifth in the 2007-08 Preseason Poll selected by coaches, media and sports information directors the league announced Tuesday at its annual basketball media day.
Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg feels the pick is a reflection of the loss of 2007 First Team All-MVC pick Carlai Moore and the strength of the rest of the league's teams this season.
"I'm not so sure we've etched our way up there yet," Eikenberg said, "but I'm confident that we will. We will be a very different team. The starters we do return understand two things, toughness and competition. Without those two things, I don't we could have done what we did a year ago. We have to get back and make sure we haven't lost our hunger to compete and what it takes to stay on top of this league. No one is going to feel sorry for us. We have great expectations for ourselves."
For the second-straight year, Drake has been tabbed the No. 1 team in The Valley with 348 points in the poll and 24 first-place votes.
2007-08 Preseason Poll
No. Team Points
1. Drake (24) 348
2. Illinois State (12) 342
3. Indiana State 289
4. Evansville (1) 288
5. Southern Illinois (1) 233
6. Creighton (1) 223
7. Missouri State 136
8. Northern Iowa 113
9. Wichita State 95
10. Bradley 78
Just six points behind Drake, and coming in second in the poll is Illinois State (342). The Redbirds received 12 first-place votes while Creighton, Evansville and Southern Illinois split the three-remaining top votes.
After last season, a year which saw Drake lose multiple players due to injury, the Bulldogs welcome back their five starters as well as 11 letterwinners from a team that culminated the season with a 2007 State Farm MVC Tournament title and trip to the NCAA Tournament. Headlining the group of starters is senior Brandy Dahir, a member of the 2007-08 preseason all-conference team, as well as Lindsay Whorton and Jill Martin.
Illinois State will be led by preseason all-conference pick Kristi Cirone, the 2007 Jackie Stiles Player of the Year.
Laura Rudolphi of Indiana State, coming in third in preseason poll, makes her way onto the preseason team. One of just three seniors on the Sycamore squad this season, Rudolphi earned second-team all-conference honors last year and was named an Academic All-American.
Joining Rudolphi, Cirone and Dahir to round out the preseason team is Rebekah Parker of Evansville and Tahnee Balerio of Missouri State.
Balerio was named to the all-MVC first team last season after leading the league in scoring, averaging 18.5 points per game. Parker and the Purple Aces welcome back all five starters this season, and were picked fourth in the preseason poll. The all-MVC senior guard was named last year's MVC Defensive Player of the Year and was a first-team all-conference performer.
Rounding out the poll is Southern Illinois, reigning regular-season champs, tabbed fifth. Following closely is Creighton, last year's tournament runner-up, picked to finish sixth, followed by Missouri State (7th), Northern Iowa (8th), Wichita State (9th) and Bradley (10th).
The 2008 State Farm MVC Women's Basketball Championship will be held March 13-16 at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. The first neutral-site tournament in conference history, the four-day championship will be the culminating event of the season, which gets underway on Friday, Nov. 9.
2007-08 Preseason Team
(selected by coaches, SIDs and media)
Tahnee Balerio, Missouri State - Sr., G, Buhler, Kan.
Kristi Cirone, Illinois State - Jr., G, Chicago, Ill.
Brandy Dahir, Drake - Sr., F, Carrollton, Texas
Rebekah Parker, Evansville - Sr., G, Silver Lake, Ind.
Laura Rudolphi, Indiana State - Sr., C, Carlyle, Ill.