Women's Basketball | 10/16/2017 11:10:00 AM

    BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's basketball team have been slotted in at No. 8 in the Mountain East Conference coaches' annual preseason poll.
    First-year head coach Kyle Cooper and his Lady Hilltoppers received 62 points in the coaches' poll, which was released during Monday's MEC Basketball Media Day festivities at the Bridgeport (W.Va.) Conference Center.
    "Preseason rankings are what they are so I'm not surprised to see us picked where we were after last season," Cooper said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see our players use this as a motivating factor going forward so this could turn out to be a blessing in disguise."
    Defending MEC champion Glenville State was a near-unanimous pick for No. 1, receiving 10 of the 12 first-place votes and 120 points. Coach Kim Stephens' Pioneers return a strong nucleus from last year's NCAA Tournament squad, headed by MEC Player of the Year Paris McLeod.
    Wheeling Jesuit, which earned an NCAA Tournament bid by winning the MEC Tournament, received one first-place vote and was second in the poll with 110 points while West Virginia State picked up the other first-place vote to nail down the third spot in the voting with 85 points.
    A mere 13 points separated the next five spots – Notre Dame (75), Charleston (71), Fairmont State (69), Shepherd (65) and West Liberty (62) – with West Virginia Wesleyan (51) and UVa-Wise (43) rounding out the Top 10.
    Urbana (21) and Concord (20) completed the poll.
    Cooper has four returning starters led by national 3-point champion McKenna Shives, a 5-6 senior guard, along with junior guards Johnie Olkosky and Brandi Beader and 6-3 junior post Marissa Brown. A bumper recruiting crop and several talented newcomers has the former WLU assistant eagerly anticipating his first season at the helm.
    "We have put together a committed group of young ladies that has totally bought into what we're doing," Cooper said. "We've assembled a roster that is built for what we want to do as a coaching staff and a program and we're really looking forward to getting out on the court."
    The Hilltoppers open the season on Nov. 11 when they take on perennial Atlantic Region power California (Pa.) in the MEC/PSAC Challenge. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio.
  Team                                                                        Pts
  1. Glenville State (10)                                     120
  2. Wheeling Jesuit (1)                                     110
  3. W.Va. State (1)                                               85
  4. Notre Dame                                                     75
  5. Charleston                                                        71
  6. Fairmont State                                                69
  7. Shepherd                                                          65
  8. WEST LIBERTY                                                62
  9. W.Va. Wesleyan                                             51
10. UVa-Wise                                                          43
11. Urbana                                                               21
12. Concord                                                            20