Women's Basketball voted to finish second in SCAC East Division
SUWANEE, Ga.—In exclusive balloting by SCAC women's head basketball coaches, Birmingham-Southern was voted to finish second in the SCAC Eastern Division in the 2012 Preseason Poll.
Centre College and Hendrix College were tabbed as preseason favorites to capture the SCAC Eastern Division and Western Division championships respectively as the conference is guaranteed a new champion for the first time in three years.
Perennial conference favorite DePauw University, who won or shared 10 championships during its 13-year run as a SCAC member, left the conference following the 2010-11 season.
Centre headlined the annual poll of head coaches and is favored to win the overall conference title. Head coach Wendie Austin-Robinson and her Colonels tallied eight of 12 first place votes to go along with 117 points to take the top spot.
BSC (100 points, 1 first-place vote), Rhodes College (80 points, 1 first-place vote), and Millsaps College (73 points, 1 first-place vote) were selected second, third, and fourth, respectively.
With the addition of the University of Dallas in the Western Division, Millsaps will play in the Eastern Division for the first time since the conference went to divisional play in 2007-08.
Birmingham-Southern, host of the 2012 SCAC Tournament, will be eligible to compete for the SCAC Championship and NCAA AQ bid for the first time since joining the conference in 2007-08 season having completed the five-year reclassification process.
The Panthers went 15-10 last year and 10-6 in the league, but were ineligible for postseason competition. This season, BSC hosts the 2012 SCAC Championships, Feb. 24-26.
BSC opens the season at home this Tuesday, Nov. 15, against Rust College at 6 p.m. in Bill Battle Coliseum.
| 2011-12 SCAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll | |||
| Eastern Division | No. of Votes | 2010-11 SCAC | 2010-11 Overall |
| 1. Centre College |
117 (8) | 11-5 |
17-9 |
| 2. Birmingham-Southern College |
100 (1) |
10-6 |
15-10 |
| 3. Rhodes College |
80 (1) |
6-10 |
9-16 |
| 4. *Millsaps College |
73 (1) |
8-8 |
12-13 |
| 5. Oglethorpe University |
34 | 5-11 | 6-19 |
| 6. Sewanee: University of the South | 15 |
0-16 |
1-24 |
| Western Division | No. of Votes | 2010-11 SCAC | 2010-11 Overall |
| 1. Hendrix College |
99 |
11-5 |
17-11 |
| 2. Trinity University |
94 (1) | 9-7 |
14-13 |
| 3. Southwestern University |
66 |
8-8 |
17-10 |
| 4. Colorado College |
54 |
8-8 |
11-15 |
| 5. Austin College |
36 | 5-11 |
7-17 |
| 6. #University of Dallas |
24 |
N/A |
14-13 |
Note: First-place votes (in parentheses) are worth 11 points, second place worth 10 points, on down to 11th-place votes being worth one point. Coaches voted for order of finish 1-11, but did not rank their own team. Results are displayed by division breakdown.
*Millsaps played in the SCAC Western Division during the 2010-11 season.
#University of Dallas did not compete in the SCAC during the 2010-11 season.