2009 Great West Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
CHICAGO – Chicago State women’s basketball was selected to finish second in the inaugural Great West Conference preseason poll by a vote of the league’s seven head coaches that was released this morning by the conference office.
The Cougars recorded 40 points and captured a pair of first-place votes in the poll in addition to having five players capture preseason all-conference honors. First-team honors went to senior guard Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and junior forward Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, Wis.), while junior center Caila Desroches (Long Island, N.Y.) captured second-team accolades. Junior forward Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn.) and junior center Elana Wroten (Chicago, Ill.) captured honorable mention recognition.
North Dakota was the conference’s pick to win conference title based on earning 42 points and two first-place votes followed by CSU and Utah Valley, who also received 40 points and two first-place votes. South Dakota was picked fourth with 28 points and a first-place vote, Texas-Pan American was picked fifth with 17 points, Houston Baptist was selected sixth with 16 points and NJIT garnered seventh with 13 points.
Alyssa Waldon recorded averages of 11.9 points and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 41 percent from three point range despite missing the final 13 games of the 2008-09 season due to injury. This is the first preseason honor for Waldon and the second overall in her career as she was named Honorable Mention All-Independent following her sophomore season in 2007-08.
Courtney Waldon enjoyed a good sophomore campaign last year as she averaged 10.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals per contest en route to claiming All-Tournament team honors at the National Independent Tournament and earned Honorable Mention All-Independent accolades for the second straight season. Waldon also received Winter-Spring Academic All-Great West honors for her performance in the classroom.
Desroches is currently in her first season with CSU after playing two seasons at Monroe Community College in New York, where she averaged 18 points and 15 rebounds as a sophomore while helping the Lady Tribunes reach the NJCAA Division I Tournament. She was a New York Tri-State McDonalds All-America nominee as a senior at Elwood-John Glenn High School in 2006.
Beckel enters her first year as a Cougar after sitting out the 2008-09 season following a transfer from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was named a McDonald’s All-American following her senior season at Waseca (Minn.) High School after posting averages of 15 points and eight rebounds.
Wroten had a breakout sophomore season last year for the Cougars as she averaged 7.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while claiming Honorable Mention All-Independent recognition and set a new career scoring high with 20 points at Akron.
The Cougars kick off the 2009-10 season on Nov. 13 with a Preseason WNIT first round game at Bowling Green with the start time set for 5:30 p.m., central time.
~CSU~