Patriot Women place second in PBC Preseason Basketball Poll

AUGUSTA, GA - With four returning starters from last year's conference championship squad, Francis Marion University has been picked to finish second in the battle for the 2010 Peach Belt Conference women's basketball crown according to the annual preseason poll of the league's coaches.  For the second time in three years, Clayton State University has been tabbed as the preseason favorite.

Clayton State received seven of a possible 12 first-place votes and 137 total points, just edging out Francis Marion (131), which earned two first-place votes.  Lander University was third with 120 points, followed GCSU and Columbus State University (104 each), USC Aiken (95), UNC Pembroke (69), Armstrong Atlantic State University (67), North Georgia College & State University (53), Georgia Southwestern State University (48), University of Montevallo (45), Augusta State University (29), and Flagler College (12).

Altogether, third-year FMU head coach Heather Macy welcomes back five letterwinners from last year's 27-5 squad that won the PBC regular-season championship for the second straight year, advanced to the round of Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division II Tournament, and finished the year ranked 14th in the nation.  For the second consecutive year, the Patriots led the nation in scoring offense (88.1 points per game) and steals per game (19.4) with a balanced scoring attack that saw six players averaging between 9.9 and 13.0 points per game.

The 20-win season was the 21st in the team's 35-year history. Seven newcomers and two redshirts from 2008-09 join the Patriot roster for 2009-10, including three transfers from NCAA Division I schools. All-Conference performer and honorable mention All-American Shannon Singleton-Bates (13.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg) leads the FMU returnees. Other returning starters are 5-8 guard Shana Franks (12.8 ppg), 5-10 guard Robin Colbert (6.4 ppg, 3.2 apg), and 6-0 center Danelle Downs (4.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg).

The Patriots will play two exhibition games: at the University of North Carolina on Nov. 5 and at Winthrop University on Nov. 7.  FMU will open its regular season on Nov. 15 with a home game against Converse College at 2 p.m.

The Peach Belt Conference will undergo several changes for the 2009-10 season, the foremost of which is a return to division play. With the additions of Flagler and Montevallo, the PBC will be split into east and west divisions. Francis Marion will compete in the East Division along with Augusta State, USCA, Lander, Flagler, AASU, and UNCP.

The PBC regular season begins Nov. 15 and continues through the 2010 PBC Tournament. The tournament format has changed with only the top four teams in each division advancing to first-round games on the campus of the higher seeds. The final four will then convene in Aiken, S.C., on March 6-7, 2010.

The preseason poll is listed below.  Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.