High Point Earns Top Spot in 2024-25 Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –
High Point University’s women’s basketball team has been chosen as the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll for the 2024-25 season, it was announced this morning.
High Point, the 2023-24 Big South Regular-Season Champion, finished with 76 points and five of the nine first-place votes from the voting panel of women’s coaches. The Panthers return two starters and seven letterwinners from the 2023-24 roster that finished 14-2 in league play, 20-12 overall and played in the inaugural WBIT. High Point is the preseason women’s favorite for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time overall.
Radford, last year’s Big South Tournament Runner-Up, was second in the women’s poll with 57 points (one first-place vote), just ahead of third-place
Charleston Southern (55 points) -- the Bucs’ highest preseason ranking since 2001-02 (third).
Winthrop placed fourth in the poll with 53 points (one first-place vote), followed by
USC Upstate in fifth with 51 points.
Gardner-Webb landed in the sixth position with 43 points (one first-place vote), with
Longwood in seventh-place (30 points). Defending Big South Champion
Presbyterian College was eighth with 23 points and received the remaining first-place vote, followed by
UNC Asheville in the ninth and final position with 17 points. A record-tying five schools received a first-place vote, as the previous time was in 2000-01.
The college basketball season tips off Monday, Nov. 4. The first conference date is Thursday, Jan. 2, as the teams will play a 16-game schedule in 2024-25. The season culminates with the 2025 Hercules Tires Big South Women's Basketball Championship March 5-9 at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (5) |
76 |
| 2 - Radford (1) |
57 |
| 3 - Charleston Southern |
55 |
| 4 - Winthrop (1) |
53 |
| 5 - USC Upstate |
51 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb (1) |
43 |
| 7 - Longwood |
30 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College (1) |
23 |
| 9 - UNC Asheville |
17 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.