The Ursinus College women's basketball team was picked sixth in the Centennial Conference preseason poll released this afternoon.
McDaniel, last season's regular-season champion, was projected to repeat by the league's women's basketball coaches and sports information directors, collecting eight first-place votes and matching Johns Hopkins – which received five first-place votes – with 136 points atop a crowded forecast. Defending CC champion Muhlenberg earned four first-place votes to land right behind the top two with 135 points, while Gettysburg (127 points, 1 first-place vote) and Haverford (115, 2) rounded out the upper half of the poll. The Bears were tabbed sixth, followed by Dickinson (53), Swarthmore (50), Washington College (41), and Franklin & Marshall (33).
Now under the direction of first-year head coach Margaret White, Ursinus heads into the 2015-2016 campaign with a stockade of returning veteran talent. The Bears bring back five of their top six scorers from last season, led by senior forward Jessica Porada (Morristown, N.J./Morris Catholic), a three-time All-Centennial Conference selection. Porada paced Ursinus in scoring (16.7 points per game, 4th CC) and rebounding (8.7 per game, 3rd CC) a year ago and will help power the offense from the paint.
Senior guard Alyssa Polimeni (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Governor Livingston Regional) returns for her fourth season as a starter after stuffing the stat sheet with 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.7 assists (3rd, CC) per contest last year. She also swiped 49 steals, good for a tie for fourth in the conference. Senior forwards Caroline Shimrock (Lansdale, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy) and Elana Roadcloud (Roslyn, Pa./Springside School) are back to bolster the frontcourt; Shimrock scored 6.8 points per game and shot 80.0 percent from the line last season, while Roadcloud pulled down 6.4 boards a contest to supplement Porada's work on the glass. Junior Olivia Kane (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco) gives the Bears a deadly outside threat; she was sixth in the CC in three-point shooting (37.5%) a season ago.
Ursinus will also look for contributions from a trio of freshmen guards in Brielle Clarke (Egg Harbor City, N.J./Absegami), Madison Dew (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West), and Kaci McNeave (Westminster, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls), as well as the rest of its returnees.
The Bears finished 8-17 overall and 6-12 in Centennial Conference play last season, tying with Swarthmore for sixth in the league standings. Behind an experienced returning core, Ursinus has its sights set on earning its first playoff berth since 2011-2012. The new season gets underway Friday, November 13, when the Bears open the Gwynedd Mercy College Tournament against the host Griffins at 8:00 p.m.