W. Basketball

10/30/2009

Lady Bearcats third in PBC preseason basketball poll

GREENWOOD - The Lander women's basketball team, the two-time defending Peach Belt Conference tournament champions, are picked to finish third of 13 teams in the Peach Belt Conference this season according to a preseason poll conducted by the league's coaches and released Thursday.

Clayton State, which made its second straight trip to the Elite Eight last season, is the coaches' top pick as the Lady Lakers collected seven first-place votes and totaled 137 points. Francis Marion had two first-place votes and eight second place for a total of 131. Lander received three first-place votes and four third- and fourth-place votes for 120 points.

Columbus State and Georgia College tied for fourth with 104 points and were followed by: 6. USC Aiken 95, 7. UNC Pembroke 69, 8. Armstrong Atlantic 67, 9. North Georgia 53, 10. Georgia Southwestern 48, 11. Montevallo 45, 12. Augusta State 29, and 13. Flagler 12.

Lander returns 11 players from last year's 20-11 squad, including three All-Peach Belt selections. Among the All-PBC returners are juniors Shannon McKever and Tasheba Butler and 2009 PBC Freshman of the Year Ciara Lyons.

McKever led Lander with 13.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, while Lyons netted 12.2 points and Butler 10.5 per game.
The Lady Bearcats, who have appeared in two straight NCAA tournaments, averaged 80.3 points per game and scored 100-plus points four times, including a PBC record 124 points in a win against Allen.

In four seasons at Lander, head coach Kevin Pederson has put together a 63-59 overall record, including 43-23 the past two seasons.