Horizon League Women's Basketball Tips Off This Weekend

Nov. 13, 2008

GREEN BAY TOPS PRESEASON POLL
The Green Bay Phoenix will begin the 2008-09 season as the favorite to win the Horizon League regular season title as the team garnered 284 points and 24 of a possible 29 first-place votes in voting by head coaches, sports information directors and media members. During the 2007-08 season, the Phoenix finished 26-6 (17-1 HL) and advanced to the WNIT.
Green Bay returns four starters from last season's squad, including 2008-09 Preseason All-Horizon League honorees Rachel Porath and Lavesa Glover.
Green Bay, under second-year head coach Matt Bollant, has captured at least a share of the Horizon League regular season title during the past 10 seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament seven times during that span.
Last year's Horizon League runner-up Wright State was picked second in the poll, followed by Milwaukee, Cleveland State and Butler.
Valparaiso, which is entering its second year in the Horizon League, was picked sixth, followed by UIC and Loyola. Youngstown State and Detroit, two teams entering the season with new head coaches, rounded out the poll.

EDWARDS NAMED PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
For the second straight season, Milwaukee's Traci Edwards was named Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year. Edwards garnered 23 of a possible 29 first-place votes. 267 points and received 24 of the 27 possible first-place votes. She is a three-time first team All-Horizon League honoree and the only player to lead the League in scoring and rebounding for two straight seasons.
Cleveland State's Kailey Klein, Wright State's Shey Peddy, Butler's Lade Akande and Green Bay's Rachel Porath rounded out the League's Preseason All-League First Team.
Second team preseason All-Horizon League selections were Green Bay's Lavesa Glover, Valparaiso's Agnieszka Kulaga, UIC's Jessie Miller, Butler's Susan Lester and Youngstown State's Tiara Scott.

RECAPPING THE 2008 POSTSEASON
Cleveland State and Green Bay each competed in postseason tournaments in 2008, marking the third consecutive year the Horizon League has placed two teams in the postseason. Cleveland State advanced to its first NCAA Tournament in school history after winning the Horizon League Championship. The Vikings, a No. 15 seed, traveled to No. 2 seed Stanford and dropped an 85-47 decision.
Green Bay, which went 26-6 overall and 17-1 in Horizon League play, made its third WNIT appearance this decade, losing a 65-56 contest at Drake.

VIKINGS BUILD ON RECORD SEASON
Cleveland State's 19 victories last season marked an 11-win improvement from 2006-07, and were the most wins for the Vikings since their 23-6 season in 1982-83. CSU, which won its first Horizon League championship last year, will be attempting to post back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the early 1980's.

NINE ALL-LEAGUE PLAYERS RETURN
Nine of the 10 players who were honored as All-Horizon League last season return in 2008-09. Led by reigning Horizon League Player of the Year Traci Edwards of Milwaukee, all five of last year's first team All-Horizon League honorees return this season.
Four of the five second team All-Horizon League performers return, with the lone exception being Green Bay's Kayla Groh.

TWO NEW COACHES IN THE LEAGUE
Detroit and Youngstown State enter the 2008-09 season under new head coaches. Autumn Rademacher is the new coach at UDM, while Cindy Martin has taken the reins at YSU.
Rademacher was an all-conference performer during her playing days at Detroit (1993-97), ranking eighth in Horizon League (then-MCC) history with 1,686 career points. She returns to the Titans after spending four years as an assistant at Green Bay, where she helped the Phoenix to a 105-21 record.
Martin comes to Youngstown State from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she went 70-23 and won two conference titles in three seasons. As a player, Martin was a member of Florida's NCAA Sweet 16 team in 1997. She was also a two-time all-conference honoree at Flagler (Fla.) College averaging 17 points and five assists per game.

TERRIFIC TRIOS
Green Bay and Loyola each return three players who averaged double figures in scoring last season. Lavesa Glover (13.3), Rachel Porath (13.3) and Kati Harty (10.5) are back for the Phoenix, while Maggie McCloskey (11.5), Keisha Collins (11.1) and Elyse VanBogaert (10.7) return for the Ramblers.

DOUBLE DIGIT DUOS RETURNING
In addition to the returning double-digit scorers from Green Bay and Loyola, five teams return a double-digit scoring duo from last year. Lade Akande (16.1) and Susan Lester (12.7) return for Butler, while Cleveland State welcomes back Kailey Klein (19.8) and Dominique Butler (10.4); UIC returns Jessie Miller (14.0) and Briana Hinkle (11.4); Agnieszka Kulaga (14.6) and Aimee Litka (13.7) return for Valparaiso; and Wright State returns Shey Peddy (16.7) and LaShawna Thomas (11.4).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR - DEC. 10
Four Horizon League teams will be in action Wednesday, Dec. 10, but what makes the date noteworthy is that three teams will be playing host to Big Ten teams. Valparaiso hosts Purdue, Wisconsin will play at Green Bay and Milwaukee will host Illinois. Here is the League schedule for Dec. 10 (all times Eastern):
Purdue at Valparaiso -- 7:00 p.m.
Wright State at Ball State -- 7:00 p.m.
Wisconsin at Green Bay -- 8:00 p.m.
Illinois at Milwaukee -- 8:00 p.m.

VALPARAISO SHARPSHOOTERS
In its first season playing in the Horizon League, Valparaiso established itself as a three-point shooting team, ranking eighth in the nation with 7.5 treys per game. The Crusaders led the League in three-pointers made (224) and attempted (631) last season. The 224 total tied a school record. Valpo drilled 10 or more treys on eight occasions, last season, highlighted by a 14-for-30 effort at Milwaukee in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Championship.

MCCLOSKEY THE LONE GUNNER
Nobody in the Horizon League made more three-pointers last season than Loyola guard Maggie McCloskey. The junior sank a League-best 90 treys last season, an average of 2.90 per game. In contrast, McCloskey, who averaged 11.5 points per game last season, made just 28 two-point baskets the entire season.

FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Wright State's Shey Peddy was a Horizon League All-Newcomer Team selection last season after finishing third nationally among freshman in scoring with 16.7 points per game. She was also named first team All-Horizon League, becoming the fourth WSU player ever to capture that honor.

HORIZON LEAGUE MAKES RPI JUMP
The Horizon League placed 17th of the nation's 31 Division I conferences in the Ratings Point Index (RPI) rankings last year, up from 24th in 2006-07. It marked the largest jump for any conference in the nation. It was the best rating for the Horizon League since 1997-98, when the MCC was charted 14th in conference RPI.
In addition, the Horizon League ranked 16th in team schedule strength, up eight spots from 24th in 2006-07. That was also the largest improvement in the nation.

HORIZON LEAGUE'S TWO 20-WIN TEAMS
Green Bay (26) and Butler (20) each reached the 20-win plateau last season, marking the fourth time in 13 seasons the Horizon League had a pair of 20-win teams. In addition, League champion Cleveland State won 19 contests, and Milwaukee won 17.

LEAGUE HAS FOUR NATIONAL TV GAMES
Fans nationwide can catch Horizon League women's basketball on national television on four occasions this season. Here is a list of those four games and where they can be found:
Big Ten Network
Tuesday, Dec. 2 -- Milwaukee at Wisconsin
Tuesday, Dec. 9 -- Butler at Indiana
ESPNU
Friday, Feb. 6 -- Wright State at Butler
Sunday, March 15 -- Horizon League Championship

WHERE AND WHEN IS THE HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP?
The Horizon League Championship opens Monday, March 9, at campus sites. In the first round, the No. 7 seed will host the No. 10 and the No. 8 seed will welcome the No. 9 seed. The winners of those games will move on to face the higher seeds in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 11, also at campus sites.
Semifinal action will get underway on Friday, March 13 at the site of the highest remaining seed, while championship action will take place at the same site Sunday, March 15 at 1 p.m. ET live on ESPNU.