Gator women picked fifth in race for upcoming Skyline Conference Title
New York, NY---The Skyline Conference released the women's basketball pre-season poll on Wednesday. The Sage Colleges was tapped fifth in the race for the 2012 conference championship. 2011 Skyline Conference defending champion, Mount Saint Mary College has earned the top spot.
Mount Saint Mary, which swept through the conference at 18-0 and finished at 26-3 overall, earned a national ranking as high as 22nd. The Knights are led by a sterling senior backcourt tandem of Jen Mocanu (13.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg), the Skyline Conference Tournament MVP, and Amanda Horvers (13.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg). The team has been to 11 consecutive NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournaments.
Farmingdale State is picked to be the runner up, collecting two first-place votes, after amassing a 14-4 league mark last year. The Rams are led by Second Team All-Skyline pick, Nikita Green, a junior guard who netted 10.3 ppg and dished out 100 assists.
Old Westbury, coming off a 13-5 Skyline ledger, finishes third in the poll and features last year's Rookie of the Year and First Team pick, Kim Weathers, who poured in 20.5 ppg and handed out 110 assists. Polytechnic Institute of NYU rounds out the top half of the poll, while the Gators straight off the program's first Skyline Conference Tournament bid a year ago, were picked fifth in the race for the league crown.
Sage returns their top scorer from last season, 2010-2011 Skyline Conference Second Team honoree, sophomore Chelsea Martin (Davenport, NY/Jefferson Central). Martin was a 24-game starter with a team-leading 11.2 ppg and 6.8 rpg as a rookie. She will be joined by senior veteran guard, Sarah Carciobolo (Niskayuna, NY/South Colonie) and junior forward Kara Hackett (Peru, NY/Peru Central) as the top performers from last season's squad. Hackett led the Gators with her 7.8 rpg and chipped in 9.5 ppg with a team-best 17 blocks, while Carciobolo added 8.0 ppg with 49 assists and 26 steals.
Under the direction on seventh year head coach, Jackie Craft, the Gators open the 2011-2012 season on November 15 facing Skidmore College on the road at 6 p.m. The team will host Hartwick College on November 29 in the home opener in the Neff Center at 7 p.m.
2011-12 Skyline Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Mount Saint Mary (6) - 48 points
2. Farmingdale State (2) - 43
3. Old Westbury - 35
4. NYU–Poly - 31
5. The Sage Colleges - 20
6. Purchase College - 18
7. College of Mount Saint Vincent - 13
8. St. Joseph's-LI - 13
(First place votes in parentheses)
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