By Matt Schabert
Morehead State has been selected to win the 2009-10 Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball title in preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. In a race that's predicted to be close the Eagles earned 147 points, including nine first-place votes while, Austin Peay claimed six first-place votes and 146 points for second place. Tennessee State picked up 134 points and four first-place votes for a predicted third place finish as Eastern Illinois earned the final first-place nod and 111 points to finish fourth. Rounding out the poll are Jacksonville State (84 points), Murray State (79 points), Southeast Missouri (67 points), Tennessee Tech (58 points), Eastern Kentucky (54 points) and UT Martin (18 points).
Morehead State is coming off a season in which it went 17-14 overall and 11-7 in the OVC to finish fourth. The Eagles made their third straight trip to the Conference tournament last year, falling to Austin Peay in the first round. Morehead State's 17 wins last season were the fifth highest in school history and most since the 2000-01 season. Head coach Mike Bradburry enters his third year at the helm of the Eagles and returns four starters among 10 letterwinners from a year ago. Among the top returnees is junior guard Chynna Bozeman. The Reynoldsburg, Ohio, native was selected as the OVC Preseason Player of the Year after tying a single-season school record with 95 3-pointers made in 2008-09. Bozeman also ranked among league leaders with 15.9 points per game.
Austin Peay went 17-16 overall and 10-8 in the OVC to finish fifth in the OVC. The Lady Govs captured its league tournament title and became the first fifth seed to ever win the Conference championship. Head coach Carrie Daniels will begin her fourth season at the helm of the Lady Govs and will have 10 letterwinners returning, including four starters from last year's team. Among the top returnees is junior guard Ashley Herring. The Memphis, Tenn., product is the team's leading returning scorer as she averaged 11.7 points last season to rank among league leaders. Also returning to the court for the Lady Govs is Nicole Jamen (Yaounde', Cameroon). The senior forward shot 48.4 from the field to average 11.2 points last season. She also brought down 6.5 rebounds each time out.
Tennessee State posted a 18-13 overall mark and a 13-5 OVC record to finish the year in third place. It also marked the Lady Tigers' first winning season since 1994-95. Tracee Wells enters her sixth year as the head coach of her alma mater and will have just one starter returning among five letter winners. Junior guard/forward Jasmine Smith is the lone starter coming back from last season. Smith, a product of Stone Mountain, Ga., put up 11.4 points per game while grabbing 9.7 rebounds each time out last season. Senior Obiageli Okafor returns to the court after sitting out all of last season due to an injury. The forward from Rolla, Mo., averaged 16.9 point and 8.3 rebounds during the 2007-08 season.
Bozeman, the preseason player of the year, is the only player to make the 2009-10 All-OVC Preseason team that earned all-conference accolades last season. She was a first-team selection last year after tallying 15.9 points per game. Joining Bozeman on the team are Tennessee State junior forward Jasmine Smith (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and redshirt senior forward Obiageli Okafor (Rolla, Mo.); Austin Peay junior guard/forward Ashley Herring and senior forward Nicole Jamen (Yaounde' , Cameroon); Jacksonville State senior forward Jolie Efezokhae (Burford, Ga.) and sophomore post Brittany Wiley (Carollton, Ga.); Morehead State junior guard Tiffany Hamilton (Winter Haven, Fla.); Eastern Illinois senior guard Dominique Sims (Wichita Falls, Texas); and Eastern Kentucky junior forward Nadia Mossong (Bereledge, Luxembourg).
Smith ranked second in the team hitting 34.4 percent of her 3-point attempts while Okafor returns this season after sitting out last year with an injury. Okafor averaged 16.9 points per game in 2007-08. Herring ranked among league leaders with 11.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game as Jamen was third in the OVC making 48.4 percent of her shots. Efezokhae finished the season among league leaders in scoring (13.0 ppg), rebounding (6.7 rpg), field goal percentage (45.7%) and blocks (1.3 bpg) while Wiley averaged 10.0 points each time out. Hamilton ranked fourth in the OVC making 2.1 3-pointers per game while Sims put up 8.6 points each time out last year. Mossong recorded 9.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per outing in 2008-09.
The 2009-10 season gets underway on November 13 with Conference action set to begin on Dec. 3.
