Southland Conference

Defending Champion Abilene Christian Picked to Win Southland in Women’s Basketball Polls

10/31/2016 9:57:10 AM

Coaches and SIDs make ACU a decisive choice in league race, followed by tourney champ Central Arkansas;

Southland Conference

FRISCO, Texas – Abilene Christian, last year’s Southland Conference champion in just its third year of NCAA Division I membership, is the choice to repeat its winning ways in 2016-17, according to preseason predictions from the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.  ACU outdistanced 2016 Southland Tournament champion Central Arkansas in both the coaches’ and SID polling.
 
Also, ACU senior guard Alexis Mason, the 2015-16 Southland Player of the Year, led the preseason all-league team and is joined Wildcats’ teammate, senior forward Suzzy Dimba, senior guard Maggie Proffitt of UCA, senior guard Taylor Ross of Stephen F. Austin, and junior guard Randi Brown of New Orleans.
 
Abilene Christian, heading into its final year of transition into full Division I membership, was the clear choice to defend its championship, as the coaches gave the Wildcats 10 first-place votes and 142 overall points in the balloting.  Central Arkansas was second in the coaches’ polling with three first-place tallies and 135 points.  On the SID ballots, ACU garnered 11 first-place votes and 143 points, followed by UCA’s two first-place mentions and 133 points.  Stephen F. Austin was rated third in both the coaches’ and SID balloting.   ACU, a Women’s NIT participant that finished with a 26-4 overall mark in 2015-16, opens its fifth season under reigning Southland Coach of the Year Julie Goodenough at Missouri in the Preseason WNIT on Nov. 11.
 
Mason led the Wildcats in scoring last season with 17.5 points per game and tallied double figures in all 18 Southland Conference games.  She was a four-time SLC Player of the Week as a junior, including three straight weeks at one point during the season, and was also an all-SLC Academic team member as a sophomore and junior.   Her teammate Dimba was tabbed as a second-team all-Southland pick as a junior following a third-team all-league selection as a sophomore.  She’s also been a member of the SLC’s all-Defensive team in all three years of her collegiate career.
 
Proffitt was a first-team all-Southland choice in her junior season, leading UCA’s Sugar Bears with a 14.2 scoring average on their way to the conference tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth.   Ross also earned first-team all-Southland accolades as a junior while leading Stephen F. Austin in scoring at a 16.5 points per game clip, and was also an all-Southland defensive first-teamer.   Brown was a third-team all-league selection while leading New Orleans with a 17.4 scoring rate as a sophomore that followed her SLC Freshman of the Year honor in 2014-15. 
 
The Southland’s preseason second team consisted of senior guard Brianna Mullins of Central Arkansas, senior forward Sydney Shelstead of Abilene Christian, senior guard Beatrice Attura of Northwestern  State, sophomore guard Chastadie Barrs of Lamar, and senior forward Lizzy Dimba of Abilene Abilene Christian.
 
The 2016-17 season begins with all 13 women’s teams in action during the opening Nov. 11-13 weekend, and following the conclusion of regular season games on March 4, the 31^st Southland Conference Women’s Tournament will played for the 10^th consecutive year in Katy, Texas, March 9-12.