Wooster Picked to Finish in the Middle of the NCAC Race

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women’s basketball team was chosen to finish sixth among the field of nine teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference’s annual Basketball Media Day polls, released on Thursday by the NCAC league office following the annual Media Day festivities.

Denison University, both the defending NCAC regular season and tournament champions, earned the preseason favorite label and 76 points in the coaches’ poll, while Kenyon College edged out the Big Red in the media poll. Denison received six first-place votes from the league’s coaches to Kenyon’s two first-place nods, and the Ladies garnered nine first-place votes and 164 points, compared to nine first-place votes and 163 for the Big Red in the media poll.

Wittenberg University picked up the remaining coaches’ first-place tally as well as one first-place nod from the media, while Ohio Wesleyan University secured the remaining first-place vote in the media poll.

The coaches and media also agreed on most of the remainder of the league’s order of finish. Wittenberg University was third, followed by Ohio Wesleyan and Allegheny College in the top-half of the league.

Wooster was a sixth-place selection, as the coaches’ poll placed Earlham College seventh and Oberlin College eighth, while the media tabbed Oberlin seventh and Earlham eighth. Both contingents agreed on the ninth-place selection of Hiram College.

The Scots have one starter, honorable mention all-NCAC and Co-Newcomer of the Year selection Kym Wenz (North Ridgeville, Ohio/Avon Lake), and seven other letterwinners back from a team that was 14-12 a year ago, their first winning season since the 1992-93 campaign. Wooster finished in a tie for fifth in the NCAC standings with a 9-7 league record.

The Scots will open up 2007-08 by hosting the annual Nan Nichols Tournament on Nov. 17-18. Wooster will welcome SUNY Fredonia (10-14 last year), Notre Dame (Ohio) College (15-7), and Misericordia University (14-11) that weekend.