Leggett, Cook earn honors as Kats picked second in SLC

FRISCO – Amber Leggett and Faith Cook were each named to the preseason all-conference first team and the Sam Houston women's basketball team was picked second in the Southland Conference's annual preseason poll, per a release on Wednesday by league officials.

The Kats are coming off a 2019-20 season that saw them go 19-10 and 14-6 in league play, setting a new program record for conference wins. They were set to open up the 2020 Southland Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed before the event was cut short, along with the remainder of the 2019-20 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coach Ravon Justice's squad was one of four programs to receive first-place votes, getting five first-place nods as part of its 257 total points. Piney Woods rival Stephen F. Austin was picked as the league favorite for 2020-21, garnering 275 points and 14 first-place votes.

"I've never paid much attention to preseason polls," Justice said. "But it does say something about how the rest of our league sees us. We were picked to finish 13^th before my first season here and now to be picked second shows that we are moving in the right direction."

Abilene Christian's 250 points and four first-place votes put the Wildcats as a third-place pick, while defending league champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi reeled in three first-place votes and 216 total points.

Others in the poll include Southeastern Louisiana (160), Central Arkansas (157), New Orleans (153), Lamar (144), Nicholls (127), UIW (126), Houston Baptist (72), McNeese (48) and Northwestern State (43).

Meanwhile, Cook and Leggett make the Kats one of two teams, along with SFA, to have a pair of preseason first-team selections. Leggett, a junior forward, returns as one of three automatic selections following being named as a first-team all-league choice after her sophomore season.

"I'm excited for Amber and Faith to be recognized for their hard work," Justice said. "Both of them will be relied on heavily with us losing so many seniors and experience."

Also a member of the SLC All-Defensive team, Leggett was a big piece to the Kats 19-win season a year ago, leading the team and ranking second in the SLC with 15.6 points per game. Her 2.8 steals per game were the second most of all league players and she finished the season as the lone player in the SLC to average 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per contest.

Cook, meanwhile, made a splash in her first season as a Kat, becoming the second straight Bearkat to be named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year.

A transfer from UTEP, Cook sat out 2018-19 before coming on in 2019-20 to start 18 games at point guard. She led the team and ranked sixth in the SLC with a 38.4 3-point percentage on her way to averaging 10.7 points and 2.8 assists per game for the season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put in flux much of the scheduling for the upcoming 2020-21 season, as the Kats continue to build a non-conference schedule. They are currently scheduled to open up the 16-game conference portion of their slate on January 2 at Nicholls

Leggett, Cook earn honors as Kats picked second in SLC

Players Mentioned

Faith Cook

Amber Leggett

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