South Atlantic Conference releases 2019-20 preseason poll, preseason all-conference teams

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Anderson has been picked as the favorite team to win the 2019-20 South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship as voted by the League's head coaches. The Trojans picked up 11 first-place votes and received 121 points from the panel.

The Trojans completed a historic 2018-19 season, including having their first unblemished conference record (20-0) since joining the SAC in 2010-11, and they had the longest winning streak (28) in program history. The Trojans won the SAC regular season title, SAC tournament title, and hosting rights for the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional as the No. 1 seed. Under the direction of head coach Jonathon Barbaree, Anderson earned its first 30-win campaign since the 2004-05 season. On the national scale, the Trojans reached season-high rankings in two polls: No. 6 in the D2SIDA rankings and No. 15 in the WBCA poll.

Anderson enters the 2019-20 season as the No. 7 team nationally and No. 1 in the Southeast Region according to the D2SIDA Preseason polls.

Carson-Newman is No. 2 in the poll with 101 points, while Wingate is No. 3 with 100 points.

The Eagles finished tied for second in the league in 2018-19, with a record of 22-8 overall and 15-5 in conference play. They advanced to the NCAA Southeast Regional for the second consecutive year.  The Eagles are a preseason No. 3 pick in the D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll.

Wingate also tied for second in 2018-19 with an overall record of 23-9 to go along with a 15-5 record in SAC play.  The Bulldogs earned an at-large bid to the 2019 NCAA Southeast Regional for the sixth consecutive season. The Bulldogs are a preseason No. 5 pick in the D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll.

At No. 4 in the poll was Tusculum, who picked up 93 points from the head coaches. The Pioneers are a preseason No. 8 pick in the D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll.  Lenoir-Rhyne followed in the No. 5 position with 75 points.

Catawba earned the No. 6 position with 72 points, while Lincoln Memorial came in at No. 7 with 66 points.  Newberry landed at No. 8 in the preseason poll as it collected 55 points from the coaches. 

Queens came in at No. 9 with 43 points, followed by Coker at No. 10 with 30 points. UVa-Wise and Mars Hill rounded out the poll at No. 11 and No. 12, respectively with 26 and 11 points.

The South Atlantic Conference also announced its Preseason All-Conference Teams with Alexy Mollenhauer and Madison Baggett of Anderson, Carson-Newman's Addison Boyd and Kayla Marosites, and Tusclum's Mia long and Catawba's Talia Barnes were named to the first team.

Earning second-team honors were Catawba's Taisha DeSazo, Lenoir-Rhyne's Madeline Hardy, Newbery's Kelsey McDermott, Queens' Kristian Eanes, UVA-Wise's Cynita Webb, and Wingate's Teliyah Jeter.

The 2019-20 women's basketball season gets underway on Friday, Nov. 8.

2019 -20 SAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll

2019-20 SAC Women's Basketball Preseason All-Conference

First Team

Alexy Mollenhauer, Anderson
Mia Long, Tusculum
Madison Baggett, Anderson
Addison Byrd, Carson-Newman
Kayla Marosites, Carson-Newman
Talia Barnes, Catawba

Second Team

Taisha DeSazo, Catawba
Teliyah Jeter, Wingate
Madeline Hardy, Lenoir-Rhyne
Kristian Eanes, Queens
Kelsey McDermott, Newberry
Cynita Webb, UVa-Wise