Women's Basketball Selected Fourth in America East Conference Preseason Poll

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Cambridge, Mass. – After establishing a school record for conference victories last season, the University at Albany women’s basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the 2008-09 America East Conference preseason poll, according to a vote of the league’s head coaches as announced on Thursday, Oct. 30.

Vermont was narrowly picked to win the league title, accumulating 61 points and five first-place votes. The Catamounts most notably return junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis, the reigning America East player of the year who was recently named to the Women’s Basketball Magazine Preseason Mid-Major All-America Second Team.

Hartford, which advanced to the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament, was picked second with 60 points and received the remaining four first-place votes. The Hawks graduated Danielle Hood, who was drafted by the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, but still return all-conference selections Erica Beverly and Diana Delva.

Boston University was selected third with 50 points followed by UAlbany with 41 points. UMBC (31), Binghamton (25), New Hampshire (22), Maine (18) and Stony Brook (16) rounded out the rankings.

“This vote places us in the top half of a competitive America East Conference,” said head coach Trina Patterson, who was named last season’s America East Conference Coach of the Year. “I believe it has a lot to do with our guard play. I feel we have the best guards in the conference. Janea Aiken has garnered the most attention among the coaches in our conference because of her all-rookie status. Britney McGee’s offensive abilities and Charity Iromuanya’s defense also gives us a lot of experience.”

In addition to having a solid nucleus of players returning, Patterson believes that the team’s uptempo style of play was a key factor which persuaded the coaches to pick the Great Danes fourth.

In 2007-08, the Great Danes tied for fourth in the America East regular-season standings. UAlbany defeated Binghamton in the quarterfinal round of the league tournament before dropping its semifinal matchup to eventual champion Hartford. McGee, Iromuanya and Aiken, who became the program’s first-ever player to garner America East all-rookie team honors last winter, highlight the list of six returning letterwinners. Patterson also has five true freshmen on the roster who are all expected to make immediate contributions.

The Great Danes begin their schedule on Friday, Nov. 14, at California, which was recently selected as the No. 2 team in the nation in the Athlon Sports preseason poll and No. 8 according to Lindy’s preseason top-25 poll.