Southland Conference Preseason Poll
10/25/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 25, 2000
DALLAS -- With 13 consecutive Conference tournament championships and 11 regular-season titles in the last 13 years, Stephen F. Austin State University is the overwhelming favorite to win the 2000-01 Southland Conference championship in a vote of the women's basketball head coaches and sports information directors.
Head Coach Royce Chadwick welcomes back three pivotal players and has added five new members to put the Ladyjacks in contention for another championship run. Heading the list of returnees are freshman of the year Nathesia Wright, all-conference post Tami Rater and junior LaShinda Winters. Chaquita Dilworth, a junior forward who transferred from Colorado, will add another punch to the Ladyjacks, high-octane offense.
Twin guards Jessica and Nicole Guild, the heavily sought-after duo from the 2000 national champion Tyler Junior College squad, will add versatility to an already exciting team.
SFA, which finished 28-4, 17-1 last season, was the unanimous first-place pick of the sports information directors and received all 10 possible votes from the head coaches since they could not vote for their own team.
The number two and three spots were reversed in the two preseason polls. Last year,s regular-season and tournament runner-up Northwestern State (24-6, 15-3) came in second in the SIDs, poll while Louisiana-Monroe (16-13, 11-7) was the second choice among the coaches.
Both groups agreed that Southwest Texas (18-11, 12-6) should finish fourth, but had Lamar (10-17, 5-13) and Texas-Arlington (13-15, 9-9) flipped in the fifth and sixth slots. The coaches and SIDs were in agreement on how the remaining five teams should end up with Sam Houston State (12-15, 11-7) at No. 7 followed by McNeese State (14-14, 8-10), Southeastern Louisiana (10-18, 5-13), Nicholls State (4-23, 3-15), and Texas-San Antonio (7-20, 3-15).
2000-01 Southland Conference Preseason Polls
Coaches, Poll (coaches could not vote for their own team) (first place votes in parentheses) 1. Stephen F. Austin (10) 100 2. Louisiana-Monroe 78 3. Northwestern State (1) 75 4. Southwest Texas 69 5. Lamar 62 6. Texas-Arlington 58 7. Sam Houston State 69 8. McNeese State 37 9. Southeastern Louisiana 35 10. Nicholls State 25 11. Texas-San Antonio 15
Sports Information Directors, Poll (first place votes in parentheses) 1. Stephen F. Austin (11) 121 2. Northwestern State 95 3. Louisiana-Monroe 92 4. Southwest Texas 80 5. Texas-Arlington 72 6. Lamar 60 7. Sam Houston State 59 8. McNeese State 56 10. Nicholls State 24 Texas-San Antonio 24
