The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) announced the 2021-22 WHAC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday afternoon. The Siena Heights women's basketball team was chosen to finish third in the poll--the same spot the teams finished the 2020-21 season. The Saints were 13-6 overall and 9-4 in conference play during the regular season. However, they advanced to the semifinals of the WHAC tournament, where Indiana Tech eliminated them.
The Saints return three regular starters from a year ago in NAIA All-American Peyton Banks, WHAC All-Freshman E'Anna Won, and Sha'Kyia Parker. Allye Minor also returns after a 2020 season where she averaged 10.9 PPG before her year was cut short due to injury. In addition, guard Anaya Powell returns to the court for the Saints to give Siena Heights a strong core of experienced leadership to lean on for the 2021-22 campaign.
"It's interesting to see where teams end up in the poll," said SHU women's basketball coach Sue Syljebeck. "We know it doesn't matter until we play the games. We have some work to do before we open conference play, but we are excited to see how it plays out this season."
The preseason poll is voted on by the coaches in the league who rank each team in the WHAC from 1-11. Eleven points are given to the team at the top of the list, 10 points to the second-ranked team, and so on to determine the order of the poll.
The reigning WHAC Tournament champions, Indiana Tech, received 10 of the 11 first-place votes to finish at the top of the poll with 120 points. Rochester fell to second with 105 points and one first-place vote. The Saints totaled 96 points to claim the third spot, while Aquinas finished with 86 points for fourth place. Concordia (Mich.) fell to fifth with 76 points. Lawrence Tech totaled 69 points for sixth place. UM-Dearborn beat out UNOH with 42 points for eights, while the Racers had 42 points for ninth. Lourdes (27 points) and Madonna (17 points) completed the 11-team poll.
Click here for the WHAC release of the 2021 Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll.
