Trinity Tops SCAC Women's Hoops Preseason Poll

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Trinity women's basketball team has been tabbed as the favorite for the 2019-20 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference basketball season, based on balloting form the league's head coaches.

Trinity, which is in search of its eighth SCAC women's basketball title, won the 2018-19 regular season title a year ago before falling in the SCAC Tournament final and will be searching for its fourth title in the last five years. The Tigers garnered five first-place votes to top the coaches' poll with 77 points. Coming in second in the preseason selections was Texas Lutheran, who received four first-place votes and finished just five points behind Trinity with 72 total points. The Bulldogs are coming off their second SCAC women's basketball title in the last six years after defeating the Tigers in the final, 68-62, last February. Austin College, who is coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, was slotted in third with 64 points. Southwestern, which last won a league title in 2014-15, garnered the final first-place vote and finished fourth overall with 61 points. Colorado College, coming off its winningest season since 2011-12, rounds out the top five in fifth with 49 points, followed by Schreiner (36), Centenary (35), St. Thomas (26), Johnson & Wales (16) and Dallas (14).

Trinity returns five all-conference performers and all five starters off its 2018-19 squad that finished the regular season with an overall mark of 22-5 and advanced to a league record seventh-straight SCAC Tournament Title game. Senior forward Abby Holland headlines the Tiger returnees as a three-time all-SCAC honoree, including consecutive first-team accolades in her sophomore and junior seasons. Holland averaged 18.3 points on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and collected 6.2 rebounds per game. The Georgetown, Texas native set single-game career highs last year in points (43), rebounds (12), assists (4) and steals (6) on her way to being selected as a D3hoops.com second team all-Region player. Sophomore Hailey Coleman returns following an outstanding rookie campaign in which she was named SCAC Co-Newcomer of the Year and second-team all-conference after averaging 9.9 points on 61.7 percent shooting, 5.5 rebounds and one assist per contest. Juniors Emily Daniel, Julia Ackerman and Jordan Rudd join Holland and Coleman as all-conference performers and starters returning from a year ago. The trio combined for 533 points and 254 rebounds last year for an offense that has led the conference in scoring for the past three seasons. It marks just the second time in league history a program has led the conference in scoring three consecutive seasons, and the Tigers are the first to do so since Millsaps accomplished the feat in the 1993-94 through 1995-96 seasons.

Trinity head coach Cameron Hill is back on the sidelines for his eighth season with the Tigers. In seven total seasons at Trinity, he has amassed an overall record of 160-37 (.812) and stands at 87-14 (.861) in SCAC play. Hill has guided the Tigers to five SCAC Championships, three SCAC Tournament titles and an appearance in the NCAA Round of 16 in 2017.

The 2019-20 season begins on Friday, November 8, while the SCAC Tournament will be held at the end of February in Kerrville, Texas, hosted by Schreiner University beginning the 28th.