Green Bay Picked Horizon League Favorite; Demmings Voted Player of the Year in #HLWBB Preseason Poll
INDIANAPOLIS -- After winning its 16th consecutive Horizon League regular season title last season, Green Bay has been voted to repeat as the Phoenix are the preseason favorite to capture the 2014-15 Horizon League women’s basketball championship. Defending Horizon League Player of the Year Kim Demmings (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) was tabbed the Preseason Player of the Year in voting by the League’s coaches, media and sports information directors.
Green Bay captured 16 of the 27 first-place votes cast to finish with 229 total points and claim first place in the poll.
Last year, Demmings led the conference in scoring at 22.4 points per game, while guiding the Raiders to a program-best 26 win season and Horizon League Championship title. A prolific scorer already ranks second on WSU’s career scoring list with 1,977 points, just 79 points shy of taking over the top spot.
Four of the five players named to the preseason First Team were members of the All-League squad at the conclusion of last year. Joining Demmings were top vote getters Ruvanna Campbell of UIC, Youngstown State’s Heidi Schlegel, Cleveland State’s Imani Gordon and Wright State’s Tay’ler Mingo who receives her first First Team recognition.
Campbell begins her junior campaign as the returning Defensive Player of the Year setting the League single-season rebounds record with 449 (12.8) while averaging 17.1 ppg and shooting 52.9 percent from the field. Schlegel averaged a League second-best 20.0 ppg and free throw percentage (80.7) and also ranked among the top in rebounds (8.0). Gordon led Cleveland State in scoring (16.6) and collected an average of 9.4 rpg. Mingo, an All-Defensive Team honoree at the conclusion of last year, tabbed 15.1 ppg and was second-best in the League in steals (2.3) and assists (4.3)
The second team features Green Bay’s Kaili Lukan and Tesha Buck as well as Cleveland State’s Cori Coleman, Oakland’s Elena Popkey, and Milwaukee’s Ashley Green.
Lukan was a member of the 2014 All-League Second Team while averaging 11.5 ppg and hitting 47.5 percent of her shots from the field. Fellow teammate Buck, was tabbed the Freshman of the Year last season while being selected to the All-Freshman Team. Buck ranked high in the League in assists (3.7) and steals (1.8) in addition to averaging 10.4 ppg. Coleman averaged a second-best 15.1 ppg for the Vikings and led the team in steals (1.9). Popkey is Oakland’s top returning scorer after averaging 13.6 last season and led the squad in assists (4.1). Green is Milwaukee’s top returning scorer and rebounder averaging 14.2 ppg and 6.7 rpg in her junior season.
Green Bay returns 80 percent of its scoring this season while being the Horizon League’s youngest team with four freshmen, five sophomores, two juniors and one senior. The Phoenix enter their 2014-15 campaign with an active winning season streak of 37-consecutive seasons while making 17-consecutive postseason appearances. Green Bay brings back four returning starters, all of which received All-League recognition a season ago.
Wright State, the defending Horizon League Tournament Champions, was voted second-place in the poll garnering nine first-place votes and 219 points. The Raiders finished last year with the most wins in school history (26), its first Horizon League Tournament Title and first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance.
The remaining two first-place votes were awarded to Cleveland State as the Vikings tallied 182 points to take third in the poll. Cleveland State tops the League in returning team points, team assists, team rebounds and total minutes after losing just one starter.
UIC and Youngstown State tied for the fourth spot collecting 151 points, respectively.
The Flames are coming off of the best season in school history, with a program-record 26 wins to claim the nation’s largest turnaround. UIC captured the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) title at the end of last season with a victory over Stephen F. Austin.
Youngstown State enters the 2014-15 season with seven freshmen and just five players that saw time last year. The Penguins earned back-to-back winning records in League play for the first time since joining the conference and finished in third-place.
Oakland picked up 105 points to come in sixth, despite its young roster this season. The Golden Grizzlies concluded its inaugural season in the Horizon League with eight wins to take sixth place.
The remaining spots in the poll were all within a four-point differential with Milwaukee taking seventh with 61 points, Valparaiso placing eighth with 60 points and Detroit rounding out the conference with 57 points.
The regular season will start on Friday, Nov. 14, with six teams in action. Horizon League play begins on Jan. 7, with two games -- Milwaukee at Detroit and Green Bay at Wright State.
The 2015 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Tournament featuring all nine teams will open on Monday, March 9 with one first round game. On Wednesday, the remaining eight teams will play in the quarterfinals with the top-four seeds hosting a game. The two semifinal games will be played on Friday at the site of the highest remaining seed and the championship game is scheduled for Sunday, March 15 at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPNU.
