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Women's Basketball Picked to Finish Fifth in Preseason CAA Poll

Women's Basketball Picked to Finish Fifth in Preseason CAA PollWomen's Basketball Picked to Finish Fifth in Preseason CAA Poll

Oct. 16, 2012

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Old Dominion University women's basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in 2012-13 by a vote of the league's head coaches as announced by the league office on Tuesday at CAA Basketball Media Day at Champps-Pentagon Row.

Sophomore guard Ashley Betz-White (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) was listed as honorable mention on the preseason All-CAA teams. Last season, she was named the CAA Rookie of the Year and to the All-CAA Rookie Team after leading all CAA freshmen in points per game (8.1), assists per game (3.4) and minutes per game (31.3). Betz-White became just the sixth player in program history to record over 100 assists in her first year.

Delaware, which returns all five starters from last year's 31-2 squad, was selected to win the CAA women's basketball title. The Blue Hens were followed in the voting by James Madison, Hofstra and Drexel.  Old Dominion and Northeastern followed, while George Mason and UNCW tied for seventh. Towson and William & Mary tied for ninth, followed by Georgia State.

The CAA is coming off an outstanding year in which the conference sent six teams to postseason play for the second straight year.  This season, the league returns 60% of its starters and eight all-conference performers.

Delaware's Delle Donne was selected as the CAA Preseason Player of the Year for the second straight season.  She is joined on the preseason All-CAA first team by Hofstra's Evans, JMU's Hislop, Northeastern's Deanna Kerkhof (14.4 ppg/3.8 rpg) and Drexel's Mershon.

Voted to the preseason All-CAA second team were JMU's Burkholder & Newman, UD's Carra, William & Mary's Emily Correal (13.2 ppg/8.5 rpg), and George Mason's Amber Easter (12.0 ppg/7.0 rpg).

2012-13 CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

1. Delaware
2. James Madison
3. Hofstra
4. Drexel
5. Old Dominion
6. Northeastern
7. George Mason
8. UNCW
9. Towson
10. William & Mary
11. Georgia State

2012-13 CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

First Team                  Cl.                  Pos.                  Ht.                  Hometown/Previous School
Elena Delle Donne, Delaware*                  Sr.                  G/F                  6-5                  Wilmington, Del./Ursuline Acad.

Shante Evans, Hofstra*                  Sr.                  F                  6-0                  West Chester, Pa./Henderson

Tarik Hislop, James Madison#                  Sr.                  G                  5-7                  Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch

Deanna Kerkhof, Northeastern^                  Sr.                  G                  5-11                  Wallaceburg, Ontario/Ursuline Col.

Hollie Mershon, Drexel#                  Sr.                  G/F                  5-10                  Malvern, Pa./Archbishop Carroll

Second Team                  Cl.                  Pos.                  Ht.                  Hometown/Previous School

Kirby Burkholder, James Madison^                  Jr.                  G                  6-0                  Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby

Lauren Carra, Delaware^                  Sr.                  G                  5-9                  Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore

Emily Correal, William & Mary                  Sr.                  F                  6-3                  Venetia, Pa./Peter's Township

Amber Easter, George Mason                  Sr.                  G/F                  6-0                  Hampton, Va./Bethel

Nikki Newman, James Madison                  Sr.                  G/F                  6-2                  Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby

CAA Preseason Player of the Year: Elena Delle Donne, Delaware

Honorable Mention: Ashley Betz-White, Old Dominion; Candace Bond, Hofstra; Karneshia Garrett, UNCW; Jewel Tunstull, Northeastern

*1st team All-CAA in 2011-12
# 2nd team All-CAA in 2011-12
^ 3rd team All-CAA in 2011-12

Follow Old Dominion women's basketball on Twitter at twitter.com/ODUWBB and find them on Facebook at facebook.com/LadyMonarchsWBB.