LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - In exclusive balloting by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's head basketball coaches, Southwestern University was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship.
Southwestern headlined the poll as the Pirates garnered 25 points and five first place votes to narrowly beat out Trinity University for the top spot. Trinity (20 points, one first place vote) and Colorado College (17 points) figure to give Southwestern its toughest test.
Second year SCAC member, the University of Dallas (13 points) checked into the poll in fourth place just ahead of 2013 SCAC Tournament host Austin College (nine points). Rounding out the poll was SCAC first year member Centenary College which tallied six points in the preseason poll voting.
Southwestern is vying for the program's second SCAC championship in 2012-13, as the Pirates won their only SCAC title in 1997-98. Last season, Southwestern advanced to the SCAC semfinals.
Trinity will look for its fourth SCAC championship. The Tigers previously won conference titles in 1994-95, 2002-03 (won the National Championship) and 2004-05. Southwestern and Trinity are the only current league members to win SCAC women's basketball championships.
| 2012-13 SCAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll | |||
| Eastern Division | No. of Votes | 2011-12 SCAC | 2012-13 Overall |
| 1. Southwestern University |
25 (5) | 11-5 |
15-12 |
| 2. Trinity University |
20 (1) |
7-9 |
9-17 |
| 3. Colorado College |
17 |
10-6 |
14-12 |
| 4. University of Dallas |
13 |
4-12 |
9-16 |
| 5. Austin College |
9 | 4-12 | 4-21 |
| 6. *Centenary College |
6 |
N/A |
8-17 |
Note: First-place votes (in parentheses) are worth five points, second place worth four points, on down to fifth-place votes being worth one point. Coaches voted for order of finish 1-5, but did not rank their own team.
*Centenary competed in the American Southwest Conference last season.
