Lycoming News

The Kutztown University Golden Bears and the California (Pa.) Vulcans were picked as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern and Western Division favorites, respectively, in the 2022-23 Women’s Basketball Preseason polls, the league office announced Thursday. Preseason polls are determined by votes from the league’s head coaches.

PSAC EAST

Reigning PSAC East regular season champions, Kutztown, was picked as the preseason favorite in the East. The Golden Bears received eight first-place votes coming off a 26-7, 18-3 PSAC mark in 2021-22. Kutztown returns key players such as Casey Remolde and Abby Hearn. Their 26 wins last year were the most in program history and they qualified for just their second NCAA Tournament in program history, and first since 1996. Remolde and Hearn were all-conference honorees with Hearn also receiving Rookie of the Year honors and Head Coach Janet Malouf receiving Coach of the Year.

 

Shippensburg comes into the 2022-23 season picked second among Eastern division programs. The Raiders were fourth in the league a year ago with a 16-13 overall mark and a 12-10 conference record. Ship returns two All-PSAC players in Ariel Jones and Lauren Pettis. Jones’ return could prove to be huge as she missed almost all last year following suffering a season-ending injury. Overall, the Raiders return seven players from 2021-22.

 

In the fold picked third is Bloomsburg. The Huskies are entering their seventh season under Alison Tagliaferri and are coming off a solid 2021-22 campaign as they finished second in the PSAC East regular season standings. Bloom lost a pair of key players from last year including PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year in Emma Saxton. However, they will return a pair of solid scorers including Megan Fisher (6.8 ppg) and Emma Gochnauer (5.5 ppg).

 

Selected fourth in the Eastern Poll is West Chester. The Golden Rams snuck into the PSAC Tournament last year as the sixth seed with a 7-14 conference mark. Good news for WCU is that they return plenty of experience from 2021-22 as four of its five starters will make their way back onto the court for 2022-23.

 

Picked fifth in the East is Lock Haven. The Bald Eagles also received the last first-place vote among the coaches following a year in which they got into the PSAC Tournament as the fifth seed. A year ago, the Bald Eagles held opponents to just 58.0 points per game which was fifth among all PSAC schools. They return important players like Brooke Lawyer and Carly Fitzmorris.

 

Rounding out the nine schools in the East were Millersville, Mansfield, East Stroudsburg, and Shepherd, respectively.

 

PSAC WEST

The top-seeded Western Division team in the PSAC Tournament from last year, California (Pa.), was selected as the top team in the division among the coaches entering the 2022-23 season. California received six first-place votes following a 25-6 overall mark and a 17-4 PSAC record. Always a very strong team, California also made its seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament last year. Forward Dejah Terrell returns and is perhaps the best player in the region after earning WBCA All-America honors, PSAC West Athlete of the Year and Defensive Athlete of the Year in 2021-22.

 

Selected second in the PSAC West and receiving the last three first-place votes is reigning PSAC Champion Gannon. The Golden Knights are back following a 24-7 overall record and a 16-6 PSAC mark in 2021-22. Gannon defeated California in the PSAC Championship game last year and fell in overtime to Cal in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Plenty of talent returns to the Golden Knights lineup including WBCA All-American Samantha Pirosko who led the team in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg).

 

Coming in at third in the West is Edinboro who is coming off a 14-11 overall record and an 11-10 league mark. Edinboro returns their top five leading scorers and seven of their eight overall led by All-PSAC First Team selection ins Rana Elhusseini. Edinboro was one of the top home teams in the league falling just three times in Edinboro.

 

IUP finished the 2021-22 season as the fourth seed and enters this year as the fourth-picked team in the West. IUP will have a new leader this year with Interim Head Coach Craig Carey, a former assistant at West Virginia. He replaces Tom McConnell who registered 197 victories as the Crimson Hawks head coach. They return their top scorer from 2021-22 in Kiera Baughman who averaged 9.7 ppg. And 3.4 rpg.

 

Seton Hill was selected sixth in the 2022-23 preseason west poll. Last year, the Griffins were third in the West with a 21-11 overall record and a 15-7 PSAC mark. They had PSAC West Rookie of the Year Christiane Frye who averaged 10.3 points per contest. Frye will be the one Griffin returning who had more than one start in 2021-22.

 

Rounding out the rest of the West is Pitt-Johnstown, Mercyhurst, Slippery Rock and Clarion, respectively.

 

The 2022-23 women’s basketball season gets underway November 11th with league play starting December 2nd with PSAC crossover action.

 

East (# of 1st Place Votes)

1. Kutztown (8)

2. Shippensburg

3. Bloomsburg

4. West Chester

5. Lock Haven (1)

6. Millersville

7. Mansfield

8. East Stroudsburg

9. Shepherd

 

West

1. California (Pa.) (6)

2. Gannon (3)

3. Edinboro

4. IUP

5. Seton Hill

6. Pitt-Johnstown

7. Mercyhurst

8. Slippery Rock

9. Clarion

ABOUT THE PSAC

Headquartered in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference comprised of 18 institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The member institutions are Bloomsburg, California (Pa.), Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Gannon, Indiana (Pa.), Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Mercyhurst, Millersville, Pitt-Johnstown, Seton Hill, Shepherd, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.

 

Original source can be found here.