Bearkat women Face No. 10 Delaware Friday
11/7/2012 11:27:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Kats travel to face the University of Delaware, a squad that has been selected No. 11 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll and No. 10 in the USA Today/ESPN Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll.
The Blue Hens return all five starters from last year's squad that went 31-2, captured their first Colonial Athletic Association Tournament title, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round.
The opening round of the Pre-Season Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) will take place at the Bob Carpenter Center. Delaware was ranked as high as No. 7 nationally in the final regular season Associated Press Top 25 media poll a year ago.
University of Delaware senior standout Elena Delle Donne was a unanimous choice on the Associated Press women's basketball preseason All-America team.
Delle Donne becomes the first player from a non-BCS conference to earn preseason All-America honors since Amanda Wilson of Louisiana Tech in 1998-99. She led the nation in scoring with 28.1 points per game, was a consensus first team All-American last year. She is only the 15th player in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to surpass the 900-point mark for a season.
"They are a very good team coming off a great year," SHSU head coach Brenda Nichols said. "We are excited for this opportunity and look forward to being able to play some intense and exciting competitors. You can't really measure yourself as a player without going up against the best."
Sam Houston returns all five starters including preseason All-Southland Conference forwards Britni Martin and Sequeena Thomas. The Kats saw their first NCAA Division I post season tournament competition last year appearing in the Women's Basketball Invitational.
The Preseason WNIT features a three-game guarantee format. The event opens Nov. 9 with first-round games. Second-round games will be played Nov. 11 and sites will be announced following the first round results; semifinals will be Nov. 14-15; and the championship is set for Sunday, Nov. 18. Teams that lose in the first two rounds will play consolation games on the second weekend, Nov. 16-17. All games are hosted by participating schools.
The winner of the SHSU-Delaware game will play the winner of the Georgetown-Sacred Heart game.
Eleven of the 16 teams are coming off of postseason berths. The remaining field features Davidson, Duquesne, Grambling State, Illinois State, Iowa, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Morehead State, North Carolina and Northern Illinois.
