CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After a one-year hiatus, Liberty University’s women’s basketball squad has been chosen first in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll, as voted by the League’s Head Coaches and media panel.  The announcement was made today at the Embassy Suites hotel in Concord, N.C., as part of the 2008-09 Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon. 

Liberty received 17 of the 19 first-place votes cast and finished with 169 total points to repeat as champion in 2008-09.  The Lady Flames welcome back eight letterwinners and three starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament squad.  Winthrop, which is coming off a school Division I record for wins (20), was picked second behind Liberty with 143 points (one first-place vote) – the Eagles’ highest spot ever in the preseason poll.  The previous best was third in 1996 and 1997.  High Point finished third in the voting with 129 points, while Radford received the remaining first-place vote and placed fourth with 116 points.  UNC Asheville is predicted to finish fifth (75 points), while Coastal Carolina and new Conference member Gardner-Webb tied for the sixth spot with 73 points each.  Charleston Southern finished eighth (55 points) and new League member Presbyterian, which is eligible for the women’s basketball regular-season title, rounds out the preseason poll in ninth-place with 22 points from the panel.

Last season, Liberty was predicted to finish second in the Conference, but won the regular-season and Tournament titles in 2007-08.  The Big South Conference features nine women’s programs for the first time since 1994-95.  The top eight teams will earn a berth in the 2009 Advance Auto Parts Big South Basketball Championship in March.  Presbyterian College, which is transitioning to Division I, is not eligible for the postseason Conference tournament until the 2011-12 seasons.

The women’s season starts Friday, Nov. 14, highlighted by Liberty’s home appearance against Virginia Commonwealth in the Preseason WNIT.  The 2008-09 campaign concludes with the Advance Auto Parts Big South Basketball Championship March 13-15 at the Millis Center on the campus of High Point University.  SportSouth will televise the semifinals March 14, as well as the Championship game live on Sunday, March 15.

2008-09 Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll (combined points)

Rk Team (first-place votes)     1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8       9     Points
1.    Liberty (17)......................153     16      --      --      --      --      --      --      --         169
2.    Winthrop (1)....................... 9     96     14     24      --      --      --      --      --         143
3.    High Point..........................--      16     77     36      --      --      --      --      --         129
4.    Radford (1)..........................9     24     35    18      15     12       3      --      --         116
5.    UNC Asheville....................--     --        7    12      20     20       9       6       1           75
T-6. Coastal Carolina.................--     --       --    12      25     12     18       6       --          73
T-6. Gardner-Webb...................--     --       --    12      20     24       9       8       --          73
8.    Charleston Southern.............--     --       --    --      15       4      18     18       --          55
9.    Presbyterian.........................--     --       --    --       --       4       --      --      18          22

Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 10 nine points, followed by eight points for second-place, and so on.