The Piedmont College Women’s Basketball team was tabbed to finish fifth overall in the USA South Preseason Poll released earlier Wednesday. The Lady Lions were selected to finish second in the South Division behind overall preseason favorite Maryville.
Fayetteville, N.C. – After exceeding preseason expectations a season ago, the Piedmont College Women’s Basketball team will look to do the same in the 2014-2015 season earning 5th in the USA South preseason poll released earlier Wednesday. The Lady Lions were picked to finish second in the South Division taking home one first place vote and 12 points while being picked 5th overall with 99 points.
For the second year in a row, Maryville was named preseason favorite to win the South Division and also picked as the preseason favorite overall in the league for 2014-2015 taking eight of the 13 available first place votes and an overall tally of 140 points. The Scots took the remaining four first place votes in the division as coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team. This marks the second year the league has been split into two divisions.
Earning four of the remaining overall first place votes was Ferrum who finished second in the poll with 129 points and is the preseason pick to win the North Division after doing so in 2013-2014. Greensboro took the final first place vote coming in third with 113 points overall and finishing one spot ahead of Piedmont in fourth was Methodist with 109 points.
Piedmont returns nine players from a season ago including three starters who finished in the top five in scoring last season. The Lady Lions finished the 2013-2014 season 17-9 and 11-5 in the USA South including ending the regular season winning four of their last five.
Two fellow South Division schools took 6th and 7th with LaGrange and Huntingdon taking those spots respectively with 92 points for the Panthers and 79 for the Hawks. Rounding out the top ten were N.C. Wesleyan in 8th (65 points), Meredith in 9th (61 points) and Averett in 10th (54 points). The final South Division school, Covenant, placed 11th with 35 points while William Peace took 12th (25 points) and Mary Baldwin was picked to finish last with 13 points.
The Lady Lions will open the 2014-2015 season on the road in Birmingham taking on Birmingham Southern College on November 15 before returning home to Demorest for an early USA South contest against Mary Baldwin on November 23.
The USA South Conference tournament will again be hosted on campus with the top seed hosting all three rounds. The tournament will begin on Thursday, February 26 and conclude on Saturday, February 28. The top five-seeded teams from the North Division and top three-seeded teams from the South Division will earn a spot in the tournament following the conclusion of the regular season.
