Lynchburg and Roanoke Round Out Top Three

SALEM, Va. --- Five-time ODAC champion, Randolph-Macon College, claimed the top position in the annual ODAC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches poll by collecting 10 first place votes and 119 poll points.  Lynchburg College gathered 105 total tallies and Roanoke College sits in third place with 94 points.

Virginia Wesleyan College is ranked in fourth place with 83 total points and defending league champion, Bridgewater College, collected 75 points for a fifth place pick.  Emory & Henry College is in sixth place with one first place vote and 63 total tallies, and Guilford College sits in seventh place with 57 points.  Eastern Mennonite University holds down the eighth spot with 50 points while Washington and Lee University was picked ninth (42).  Randolph College (27) and Hollins University (11) round out the 11-team survey. 

Randolph-Macon (22-5, 16-4 in 2007-08) returns to the top of the league after falling to Bridgewater in last year's ODAC semifinals.  The Yellow Jacket roster boasts several key returners including three starters-Molly Ariail, the reigning ODAC Player of the Year and a member of the All-ODAC First Team, Lindsay Riesbeck, also a first-team selection, and Amanda Hiltunen, the ODAC/Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete and member of the All-ODAC Second Team.  Ariail tied for the league lead in scoring last season (16.4 ppg) and was fourth in rebounding (8.5 rpg).  She also recorded seven 30-point games, 10 double-digit rebounding games and nine double-doubles last season.  Riesbeck was the second-leading scorer for Randolph-Macon last year with 13.4 points per outing.  She also was ranked second in the ODAC in blocked shots with 43 on the season.  Yellow Jacket floor general, Hiltunen, notched 13.1 points per game for the Randolph-Macon squad and dished out 108 assists, helping her 1.87 assist-to-turnover ratio, which was first in the league. 

Lynchburg (16-10, 13-7) welcomes back all five starters to their roster this season including first-team All-ODAC selection Brittany Dahn and second-team selection Kristina Darby, both juniors.  Dahn led the Hornets in points per game (16.1), rebounds per game (11.8)--which was also the league's top performance in that category--and blocked shots (18).  Darby scored 12.1 points per game for Lynchburg and recorded 60 steals and 88 assists on the season.  Fellow returning Hornet starters include Dana Esposito, Kylie Lucas and Chevonne Booker. 

Despite losing 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 250 steals to graduation, Roanoke (16-11, 13-7) has an experienced roster to lead the Maroons this season.  Roanoke has two starters back and four upperclassmen who contributed to last year's squad.  Caitlyn Long returns as the Maroons leading scorer after posting 11.1 points per game a year ago.  Long was second in the ODAC last year with 49 three-point field goals and boasted a .398 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.  Fellow returning starter, Jalessa Osborne, will be looked to lead the Maroons from the point guard position.  Osborne dished out 3.6 assists and recorded 7.6 points per outing last year.  Other Maroon players to watch include Jordan Gholson, Erin Jenkins, Virginia Anne Hagood and Marcy Conner.

Posted below is the entire women's basketball preseason poll.  For more information on ODAC women's basketball, visit any of the participating schools' websites or the ODAC on the Internet at www.odaconline.com. 

2008-09 ODAC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
(#) Denotes first place votes