North Dakota Picked as Favorite in Women's Basketball Coaches Poll
North Dakota has been chosen by the league's women's basketball coaches as the favored team to capture the North Central Conference women's basketball championship.
The Fighting Sioux won the regular-season standings with a 12-0 mark and the Wells Fargo Finals last year. North Dakota advanced to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship and defeated Colorado State-Pueblo and Northern State before falling 75-69 to St. Cloud State in the region final game to finish the season with a 34-1 record.
St. Cloud State finished second in the coaches' balloting with Augustana in the third slot. St. Cloud State won the NCAA North Central region and advanced to the Elite Eight defeating Shaw before falling to American International 70-58 to finish with a 29-5 record. SCSU finished second in the NCC standings with a 9-3 mark, the losses occurring to North Dakota (twice) and Augustana.
North Dakota was chosen as the champions by five of the seven coaches with the other two votes coming for second place. St. Cloud State received the other two first-place votes along with four second-place votes and a third-place nod.
The North Central Conference has had teams in the NCAA Division II women's basketball championship game in 11 of the last 16 years and NCC schools have brought home the title on nine of those occasions.
North Dakota and Augustana have already gotten a jump start on the season by participating in the Disney Tip-Off Tournament last week. North Dakota posted a 3-0 record with wins over Georgia College & State University, Lock Haven and Texas A&M-Commerce while Augustana went 1-2 with a win over Felecian and losses to Stonehill and nationally-ranked West Texas A&M.
Non-conference action will tip-off on Wednesday, November 15. Conference play opens on Thursday, January 4th.
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2006-07 NCC Women's Basketball Media Poll |
| |||||||
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Total |
|
North Dakota |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
47 |
|
St. Cloud State |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
43 |
|
Augustana |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
29 |
|
South Dakota |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
24 |
|
Minnesota Duluth |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
|
Nebraska-Omaha |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
19 |
|
Minnesota State |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
13 |