 AIKEN,
S.C.--Columbus State has been selected as the team to beat in the
race for the 2005-06 Peach Belt Conference women’s basketball
regular season championship. According to a poll of the league’s
11 head coaches released by the conference office Friday afternoon,
the Lady Cougars collected eight first-place votes totaling 98 points.
USC Aiken was picked in a tie for sixth with Augusta State after each
program garnered 49 points.
Defending PBC regular season and tournament champion Clayton State was second
in the balloting with 88 points and two first-place tallies. Georgia College & State
University (73) came in third while Armstrong Atlantic State (66) received the
remaining first-place vote and was fourth.
The Peach Belt Conference will feature a new look this year as well. Gone are
Kennesaw State, the 2004 NCAA Division II national champions, as well as North
Florida to the Division I ranks of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Joining the PBC
is North Georgia, a perennial power in NAIA competition, as they begin their
transition to Division II and although they cannot compete in postseason play,
the Saints are eligible for the regular season crown.
As a conference, the PBC sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament last year in
Columbus State, Clayton State, and USC Aiken. This comes off the heels of the
2003-04 season when the league sent a record five teams to the NCAA South Atlantic
Regional.
USC Aiken did appear on one ballot as the third-place team as well as the fourth
place team on another. The Lady Pacers also picked up four sixth-place votes,
three seventh-place markers, and one ninth-place vote.
The Lady Pacers are coming off a successful 19-13 season in which they finished
tied for fourth in the PBC with a 9-7 mark. In addition to winning the consolation
championship at the Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic, USC Aiken advanced
to the program’s second NCAA Tournament appearance in the past four
years. USCA’s current streak of six-straight non-losing seasons is
also the longest active streak in the PBC.
Fourth-year head coach Mike Brandt welcomes back only three letterwinners,
but two are starters in point guard Mindy Allee and forward Nola Grant. After
being hampered by ACL injuries the past two seasons, Allee appears healthy
for a breakout junior campaign. In her first season as a Lady Pacer, Grant
averaged 10.4 ppg and 6.2 rpg.
Gone are Kasey Mills, a 2005 All-Conference First-Team selection, and her 13.5
ppg as well as the inside presence of Lana Mandic (11.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Benazura
Serbecic (9.5 ppg, 8.4 rpg). The addition of nine newcomers as well as Jordon
Thomas and Nichole Bennett who missed last year with injuries will create a
new look for the Lady Pacers and help try and fill the loss of 73.5 percent
of the team’s scoring and 67.1 percent of its rebounding.
The Lady Pacers open the 2005-06 season on Tuesday, November 15 when they host
Carson-Newman at 5:30 PM.
2005-06 Peach Belt Conference
Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll
Team.............................................Points
1. Columbus State (8).......................98
2. Clayton State (2)...........................88
3. Georgia College & State................73
4. Armstrong Atlantic State (1).........66
5. UNC Pembroke..............................60
T6. USC Aiken................................49
T6. Augusta State.............................49
8. Francis Marion..............................43
9. North Georgia...............................33
10. USC Upstate...............................24
11. Lander........................................22
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