Moon Township, Pa.-The Robert Morris University women's basketball team was selected second in the 2010-11 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll as announced by the conference Thursday. The Colonials received three first-place votes, marking the sixth consecutive season that they have received a first-place tally in the poll.
"We don't have any preseason all-conference players, but we're picked second, so I really appreciate the coaches giving us that type of respect," said RMU head women's basketball coach Sal Buscaglia. "It might be a little too much respect. We'll just have to see what happens."
Long Island is the preseason favorite, garnering six first-place votes. RMU is second followed by Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (Pa.) with two first-place votes and Monmouth with one first-place nod. Quinnipiac was sixth with Central Connecticut State, Bryant, Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner, Mount St. Mary's and St. Francis (N.Y.) rounding out the rest of the league's 12 teams.
The defending NEC regular-season champion finished 23-9 overall, including a 17-1 record in conference play, last season while accepting a berth in the Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament. Robert Morris has earned berths into national tournaments in four consecutive seasons, beginning with its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007. Another trip to the "Big Dance" followed in 2008 before the Colonials accepted an invitation to the Preseason WNIT in fall of 2008.
Two starters return from last season's 23-win squad - senior guard Kristine Silaraja (Ventspils, Latvia / Ventspils (Barton County CC)) and junior forward Mary Durojaye (London, England / English National U-20 Team) - and a total of seven letterwinners. Gone from the squad are 2010 NEC Player and Defensive Player of the Year Angela Pace along with Vega Gimeno-Martinez.
Buscaglia and associate head coach Charlie Buscaglia have brought in six new players headlined by freshman forward Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Greek National Team) and Franziska Worthmann (Rotenburg, Germany / BG 89 Rotenburg-Scheeßel).
Spanou, a member of the Greek National Team, was named the most valuable player at the 2010 FIBA U-18 European Championships where she averaged 18.5 points and 8.1 rebounds a game. Durojaye, senior Yohanna Morton (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / Arizona Western JC), sophomore Anna Gailite (Riga, Latvia / Latvian National U-20) and freshman Anna Kavasila (Cholargos, Greece / Greek National U-20 Team) are also all members of their respective national teams.
"We've brought in some good players, and we think some of the players who are returning are really going to help us," said Buscaglia. "We think (junior) Mary Durojaye is really going to be a good force inside and that (senior) Yohanna Morton, who had some injuries last year, is going to fill in at point guard. We also have a couple really good newcomers in Artemis Spanou, who was the most valuable player at the European U-18 Championships and a member of the world championship team for Greece, will have an immediate impact. Another young lady, (graduate student) Franziska Worthmann from Germany was one of the top players over there and can really help us out. We have some good foreign players coming in and some other quality freshman that we hope are going to develop throughout the season."
The Colonials open the season on November 14 when they host a formidable Lehigh opponent at Noon in the Charles L. Sewall Center. It's the first game of a very tough non-conference schedule.
"I can't be overly concerned with our schedule at this point," said Buscaglia. "Twelve of the first 14 games are on the road and we open up with Lehigh, who had 29 wins last season. And then follow that up with North Carolina and Virginia Tech and Florida. We just couldn't get home games. Believe me, we did not plan to have this many road games and this hard of competition. It is the hardest schedule that I have ever faced at Robert Morris."
2010-11 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
First place votes in parentheses ().
- Long Island (6)
- Robert Morris (3)
- Sacred Heart
- Saint Francis (PA) (2)
- Monmouth (1)
- Quinnipiac
- Central Connecticut State
- Bryant
- Fairleigh Dickinson
- Wagner
- Mount St. Mary's
- St. Francis (NY)
