BAY CITY, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team was selected to finish seventh in the annual GLIAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll for the upcoming 2010-11 season. The Cardinals received 35 total points to finish in the seventh slot. Senior forward Brittany Burkhardt (West Bloomfield, Mich./Walled Lake Central HS) was selected to the GLIAC Preseason North Division Second Team.
In the North Division, Grand Valley State was picked first in the 2010-11 GLIAC Preseason Women's Basketball Media Poll with 17 first-place votes and 161 points. Michigan Tech was selected second with four first-place votes and 124 points. In third place was Northern Michigan with three first-place votes and 116 points, fourth place was Northwood with one first-place nod and 103 points. Lake Superior was fifth with 90 points, sixth was Ferris State with 71 points and seventh was Saginaw Valley State with 35 points.
In the South Division, the Findlay Oilers were picked first with 161 points and 15 first-place votes. Hillsdale earned ten first-place votes and a total of 158 points. Ashland, one of the programs on the rise in the GLIAC, was third with 126 points; Wayne State, which hopes to contend with the top teams in its division, was fourth with 83 points; Lake Erie was chosen fifth with 64 points; and Tiffin was sixth with 63 points; while Ohio Dominican placed seventh with 45 points.
The Cardinals hope that experience gained during the 2009-10 season will pay dividends this winter. Saginaw Valley returns a team with more experience with nine returning letterwinners and all five starters back. SVSU compiled a record of 7-20 overall and 5-17 in the GLIAC, but is hopeful that those challenges and near-misses will be a springboard into bigger and better things for head coach Shannon Baugh's squad. Brittany Burkhardt, a 6-foot senior forward, leads a cast of returners for Saginaw Valley. A year ago, Burkhardt led the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game as she also averaged 5.4 rebounds. More firepower returns as Jasmine Kennedy is back coming off a season during which she ranked second on the squad in scoring at 9.4 points per game. She averaged 4.7 rebounds. Kelley Wesp, who started all 27 games, averaged 8.2 points and led the team with 69 assists. Grace Herzog, a 6-3 sophomore center, averaged 7.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and blocked 82 shots. Aysha Boston averaged 7.5 points and totaled 59 assists.
SVSU opens its 2010-11 season with an exhibition contest at Eastern Michigan University on Friday, Oct 29 at 7:00 pm.
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Click here for 2010-11 GLIAC Women's Basketball Media Day Website
