AUSTINTOWN – The Wilmington College women’s basketball team was picked to finish third in the 10-team Ohio Athletic Conference in a vote of conference coaches.
The men’s team was tabbed to finish ninth in the OAC.
“This is as deep of a league that we have had in my 10 years as a head coach,” said Wilmington College men’s head coach K.C. Hunt. “With that said, we have designs on finishing a heck of a lot higher than ninth place.”
John Carroll and Marietta split the votes, each finishing with 77 points and five first-place votes, to be the co-favorites. They are followed by Baldwin Wallace (60), Mount Union (54), Ohio Northern (50), Heidelberg (48), Capital (30), Muskingum (25), Wilmington (19) and Otterbein (10).
Junior Christian Jones (Hamilton) leads a team that returns three starters from a season ago. The Fightin’ Quakers finished 5-19 overall after falling to Marietta in the first round of the OAC Tournament.
Wilmington travels to Northern Kentucky University 8 p.m. Friday for an exhibition game and will kick off the regular season by hosting Mount St. Joseph 8 p.m. Nov. 15.
Longtime women’s head coach Jerry Scheve understands the value of any pre-season poll.
“Pre-season polls are nice for generating some interest in the basketball season,” said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. “I guess the coaches thought we really under achieved last year, since we have pretty much the same team back this year. I hope we are ready to make that step up and do even better than predicted. I think we can. Our players are working hard and we have good senior leadership. We will see.”
Reigning regular season champion Ohio Northern garnered seven first-place votes and 79 points total to earn the distinction as pre-season favorites.
Baldwin Wallace earned the other three first-place votes for 74 points.
Wilmington, which picked up 57 points, was followed by John Carroll (45), Capital (44), Otterbein (44), Heidelberg (38), Mount Union (38), Marietta (21) and Muskingum (10).
The Fightin’ Quakers return four starters, including All-OAC selections Brittaney Jefferson (Chaminade Julienne) and Mackenzie Campbell (Turpin), from a team that finished 11-16 overall, 7-11 in the OAC.
Wilmington kicks off the season 6 p.m. Nov. 15 by hosting Denison.
