Women’s basketball team selected sixth in MIAA preseason poll

FREELAND, Mich. – The Olivet College women's basketball team has been selected sixth in the 2018-19 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) preseason poll. The poll is voted on by the nine MIAA coaches, and the coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team.

Defending MIAA tournament champion and regular season co-champion Hope College was chosen as the preseason favorite with eight first-place votes and 64 points. Trine (Ind.) University, who shared the regular season title with the Flying Dutch, was picked second after receiving the other first-place vote and 56 points.

Under the leadership of head coach Zach Ingles, the Comets finished the 2017-18 season with a 7-18 overall record and were part of three-way tie for seventh-place in the MIAA standings with a 3-13 mark.

In 2018-19, Olivet welcomes back 10 players from last year's team. This group is led by senior Shawnee Dame who averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 2017-18. Sophomores Grace Clark and Fayth Talbert also return. Clark started 20 games last year and averaged 5.9 points per game. Talbert started 23 games, averaging 6.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.

The other returning players are seniors Daitriona Bonds and Shannon Dingman, juniors Amari Brown, Leijla Masinovic and Megan Sysko, and sophomores Janae Cummings and Grace White. All except for Cummings saw action in at least 10 games last year, with Dingman and White playing in all 25. The rest of this year's roster features five transfers and three true freshmen.

The Comets open their season Friday when they host Heidelberg (Ohio) University. Tip-off from Cutler Event Center is 6:30 p.m. Olivet plays its first four games at home before opening MIAA play Wednesday, Nov. 28, at Albion College.