Radford Voted 2018-19 Women's Basketball Preseason Favorite
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Radford University has been chosen the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual women's basketball preseason poll for the 2018-19 season. The announcement was made today at the Renaissance Suites Hotel in Charlotte, N.C., as part of the league’s 2018-19 Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon.
The Highlanders were picked first for the second consecutive year, as Radford received nine of the 11 first-place votes and 116 total points to win the conference in 2018-19. RU returns two starters and 10 letterwinners from last year’s squad that won 24 games -- including a win at Penn State in the WNIT. This is the 12th time overall Radford has received top billing in the women’s preseason poll, as the Highlanders were the top choice the first seven years of Big South women’s hoops (1986-93), as well as 1994-95 1996-97, 2007-08 and 2017-18.
High Point was voted second with 102 points and collected the two remaining first-place votes. UNC Asheville was third with 100 points, while new member Hampton was picked fourth based on its 89 points. Campbell was fifth with 81 points, followed by Charleston Southern in sixth with 55 points. Presbyterian College landed in the seventh spot (53 points), ahead of Gardner-Webb (eighth, 49 points) and new member USC Upstate (ninth, 35 points). Longwood claimed the 10th position (32 points) and Winthrop rounded out the poll with 14 points.
Big South basketball tips off Tuesday, Nov. 6 with four games. The first conference date is Saturday, Jan. 5, and the season culminates with the 2019 Big South Women's Basketball Championship the week of March 12-17.
2018-19 Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
| Rk - Team (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Radford (9) |
116 |
| 2 - High Point (2) |
102 |
| 3 - UNC Asheville |
100 |
| 4 - Hampton |
89 |
| 5 - Campbell |
81 |
| 6 - Charleston Southern |
55 |
| 7 - Presbyterian College |
53 |
| 8 - Gardner-Webb |
49 |
| 9 - USC Upstate |
35 |
| 10 - Longwood |
32 |
| 11 - Winthrop |
14 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 11 points, followed by 10 points for second-place, and so on.